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Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Seychelles’ visibility in China gets added boost-● Seychelles wins award for quality of service |28 April 2012

Seychelles’ visibility in China gets added boost-● Seychelles wins award for quality of service

Seychelles promoted to Chinese tourism trade

The workshop was held at the Old Chengdu Club on April 13 and at the Beijing Cangpin Hui Club on April 16.

Present at the workshop in Chengdu were representatives from both Air Seychelles and Etihad Airways, together with representatives from 7° South, Creole Travel Services, Mason’s Travel and the Beachcomber Sainte Anne Resort & Spa.

This workshop was attended by some 40 Chinese companies, who were given presentations by the Seychelles trade followed by one-on-one meetings.

The subsequent workshop at the Beijing Cangpin Hui Club on April 16, saw the participation of some 30 Chinese companies.

This workshop was again co-organised by Air Seychelles and Etihad Airways with local tour operators 7 Degrees South, Creole Travel Services, Mason’s Travel, and Seychelles hotels interested in receiving Chinese holiday makers namely Constance Hotels, Creole Travel Services, Mason's Travel, 7 Degrees South, Beachcomber Sainte Anne Resort & Spa, Dhevatara Beach Hotel, Desroches Island,  Berjaya Hotels & Resorts.

For both workshops, the local trade gave a presentation and then met with the attendees in one-on-one meetings.

Prizes were also awarded by way of a raffle to two lucky winners from both the Chengdu and Beijing Chinese trade to visit the islands. The prizes have been sponsored by the Seychelles trade and flights by Etihad Airways.

As a direct result of these two workshops, a familiarisation trip will be organised during the course of this year involving certain members of the Chinese trade.

The Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St Ange, standing with the island’s Tourism Board chief executive Elsia Grandcourt, said that the private sector tourism accompanying the tourism board in marketing Seychelles in China needed to be congratulated.

“In the islands we often hear of yield from tourism establishments forgetting that this is only dependent on the applicable rates being charged by individual establishments, and that they base their rates on prevailing circumstances and applicable rates and packages from competing destinations being reflected from the different markets,” said Minister St Ange.

“The tourism board will not and cannot start dictating the room rates of individual tourism establishments,” he explained, noting that the tourism board works to stimulate the markets and open new markets and the private sector trade pitches their presence in the markets on rates they deem acceptable and appropriate for their own individual property.

“This is why Seychelles is today happy with this small group of industry players working with the tourism board to open a new market for the islands. Increasing the national occupancy levels will enable the trade to then raise applicable rates based on the level that they believe they can justify,” said Minister St Ange.

Following the Seychelles workshops in China, the Seychelles Tourism Board’s delegation and Seychelles private sector trade attended the China Outbound Tourism Fair (COTTM) in Beijing for the second year running.

Minister St Ange, accompanied by Ms Grandcourt, tourism consultant and copywriter Glynn Burridge and marketing executives Stephanie Lablache and Amy Michel, attended the fair on their way back from attending the ROUTES ASIA forum in Chengdu, held between April 15-17.

This fair saw brisk business with members of the Seychelles trade stating their belief that the Chinese market will continue to grow, producing increasing numbers of visitors to Seychelles.

Ms Lablache, together with the Seychelles Tourism Board representative in China Jean-Luc Lai-Lam, made a presentation on the destination, showcasing Seychelles’ attributes and products to an attentive audience as Seychelles also won a gold award for service quality. The ‘CTW Chinese Tourists Welcoming Award’ was organised for the ninth time by COTRI – China Outbound Tourism Research Institute.

Today, the Chinese outbound market is already the third biggest source market in international tourism and is destined to become the number one tourism source market globally in 2015.

Recent statistics show that visitor numbers arriving to Seychelles from China have grown to two thousand, representing a healthy 90% growth. The increase in the number of visitors from China has helped Seychelles to maintain its number of tourism arrivals, despite a drop from its core markets which are France, UK, Germany and Italy.

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