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Agents strive to strengthen Chinese market in 2018 |09 December 2017

 

 

 

Mrs Francis addressing delegates at the opening of the seminar

 

A group of 15 high end top selling agents from the six main outbound cities in China attended a Chinese marketing seminar at the Eden Bleu Hotel on Wednesday.

The aim of the meeting was to share information about the Chinese market during the year 2017, the challenges faced in the market, how to better welcome them to the Seychelles shores in 2018 and also see how best they can collaborate in the future to increase sales to the Seychelles.

The agents are from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tai Wan and Chengdu and also present during the meeting were local members of the tourism trade consisting of mainly tour operators and tour agents.

In her opening remarks, the Seychelles Tourism Board’s (STB) chief executive (CEO) Sherin Francis said this seminar has been designed to bring them to greater understanding of the way they each do business and also bring a closer collaboration in the way they achieve their goals in the months and years ahead.

“China is still a relatively new market for Seychelles and one that is growing year on year. It is a much valued market for us and one that we shall keep investing in to ensure that it reaches its full potential. This workshop presents us with the opportunity to study and find solutions to the challenges that confront us and to the issues we need to resolve in order to get the very best from the tourism opportunities that come our way,” she said.

She noted that a very successful internal meeting was held with the agents on Tuesday.

STB regional director for China Jean Luc Lai-Lam said we have invested considerably in China which is a very big market.

“They are the number one spenders when it comes to tourism and we need to ensure we tap into this market to be able to support our economy which relies on tourism,” he said.

He said there has been a 17% decrease in the number of tourists coming to Seychelles from China and this is due to various issues such as the lack of direct flights from and to China, the fierce competition from other destinations, low awareness of Seychelles in China, the time difference between the two countries for the tour operators working hours, among other issues.

 

 

 

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