Travel trade shows interest in Seychelles as a ‘destination of choice’ |23 June 2017

Seychelles recorded another successful participation at the INDABA 2017, as the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) joined local trade partners to promote the destination.

The three-day exhibition was held in Durban, South Africa, from May 16-18, 2017.

The INDABA trade fair continues to offer a good platform for the STB to strengthen relationships with the trade and close new deals.

Such opportunities to network with trade partners are especially important now that the Seychelles is doubling its efforts to obtain more visitor arrivals from South Africa, which remains its main market in Africa.

INDABA is one of Africa’s largest tourism marketing events which provides the meeting place for the continent’s travel industry. The aim is to showcase the widest variety of Southern Africa's best tourism products. It’s also the perfect opportunity for tour operators, travel agents, online booking companies and Destination Management Companies to network with both existing and new clients. The event also attracts widespread media coverage.

The STB’s regional director for Africa & the Americas, David Germain, led the country’s delegation at this year’s event, which also included representatives of Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Hotel and Air Seychelles.

Miss Seychelles … Another world 2016 Christine Barbier, who also formed part of the delegation, assisted in providing visitors at the stand with information about the destination and its various products.

Commenting on this year’s exhibition, Mr Germain said he was impressed with the number of participants and quality of business which took place at the Seychelles’ stand.

“There is always a need for greater awareness on Seychelles in Africa and this is one of the reasons why the Seychelles Tourism Board continues to attend the Indaba Exhibition. People want to know more and we have to be present at key events in Africa to ensure that our presence is felt,” he added.

Mr Germain said he was particularly pleased with this year’s exhibition because he felt that the trade in general showed a lot of interest in Seychelles as a ‘destination of choice’ for their clients, adding that Seychelles is doing extremely well, and actually better than expected as the arrival figures continue to increase, compared to last year.

Figures from the Seychelles’ National Bureau of Statistics show that visitors from Africa has increased by 11 percent so far in 2017 compared to the same period in 2016.

South Africa has sent 6,017 tourists to the island nation up to June 11 this year, which represents an increase of 22 percent compared to last year.

Air Seychelles launched twice-weekly flights to Durban in March this year. This is the national airline’s second destination in South Africa, bringing the total number of non-stop flights between the two countries to seven per week.  Air Seychelles also operates five weekly flights to Johannesburg.