British travel trade tells Seychelles: Welcome back! |14 November 2009

Vice-President Joseph Belmont headed the country’s big delegation to London, accompanied by the Seychelles Tourism Board’s (STB) director of tourism marketing, Alain St Ange.

Mr Belmont and Mr St Ange addressed a press conference and unveiled the latest PR coup by the STB, where a series of Seychelles-branded London taxis will now be seen all over the city for the next couple of months.

Mr Belmont took time at the WTM to lead talks between Seychelles and Cape Town, which were a follow-up to meetings held by Mr St Ange and David Germain in South Africa two weeks ago.
 
The Vice-President and STB managers also attended the Air Seychelles tour operators’ lunch, where special “two for the price of one” promotional airfares were announced, confirming to the UK travel trade Seychelles’ claim to be an affordable holiday destination.

“Seychelles has successfully told the UK market that it is back,” said Mr Belmont.

“As a delegation, we used the WTM to introduce the tourism board’s Fiona Lane, the new London-based manager. This is helping to reposition Seychelles as a serious holiday destination.

“The tourism board’s innovation of having Seychelles-branded taxis in London will ensure we remain visible in London even after the delegation returns home.”

Mr St Ange said the delegation knew it was time to relaunch Seychelles in the UK, and that the success of this mission would depend on everyone joining forces for the Seychelles tourism industry.

“We came here to tell the UK that we are back and that this time, as the trade is in the driver’s seat, we are back in the UK to stay,” he said.

The STB has now officially positioned Ms Lane in London and it believes the relaunch of Seychelles, coupled with the special Air Seychelles airfares, will get the destination back on track and the British market will rediscover its interest in the islands.

“The British already know Seychelles because we are bonded by our traditional ties. What we need to do now is to create the interest to get them to visit our destination,” said Mr St Ange.

“We now have an office to push forward our promotions, and the tour operators on both sides are committed. We can now only expect this market to go back to what it once was and the British to be one of the leading markets for Seychelles again.

Tour operators have welcomed Ms Lane and Seychelles’ move to claim back a share of the UK outbound market. She already has strong contacts in the market after her many years in the tourism business, her latest being as a representative of the Banyan Tree Group in the UK.

She will be helped by two Seychellois staff, who joined her to prepare for Seychelles’ presence at the WTM. They will also help her with a host of sales calls and workshops all over the UK as she builds up the country’s’ profile.

Air Seychelles has also welcomed the STB’s return to the UK and has said it will work very closely with the tourism board in its pressing task of boosting arrivals from that market. Depending on the outcome of this, it has announced that a direct flight to Seychelles may become a real possibility in the not-too-distant future.

Air Seychelles has now confirmed that from January to March, and again from June to September 2010, its special promotional airfare of two for the price of one will be applicable. This comes over and above the Special Seychellois (ethnic travel) rate of £400 plus taxes for a return flight from London to Seychelles.

“All these new developments are helping the tourism board reposition itself in London,” said Mr St Ange.

He was also interviewed for the BBC’s Fast Track programme on the new situation for tourism in Seychelles, accompanied by Mr Belmont.