Trade fair campaign in Europe and Russia |06 March 2010

During the next three weeks, a number of them will be travelling to Europe and Russia for three trade fairs that feature prominently on their programme.

Next week in Germany, Vice-President Joseph Belmont – who is also responsible for tourism – will lead a 54-strong delegation to the biggest trade fair, the International Tourism Exchange Berlin (ITB).

A total of 28 companies are part of the delegation and they will be supported by the Seychelles Tourism Board office in Germany.

The ITB fair will take place from March 10-14, and from there representatives of 10 companies will fly over to the Moscow International Travel and Tourism Show to have a go at the lucrative Russian market from March 17-20.
Russia is now the fourth best performing market for Seychelles, and there is a lot of potential to attract more visitors from that country.

Seychelles does not have an office in Russia, but marketing activities there are run through the office of the European director, Bernadette Willemin, who is also responsible for the Baltic states.

TUR in Sweden is the last trade fair in March and will open up opportunities for business in the Nordic region. Four local representatives, including the Seychelles Tourism Board, will feature in Göteborg from March 25-28.

Seychelles has, since the beginning of the year, been represented at a number of key trade and consumer fairs such as Fitur in Spain, Matka in Finland, the Destination Consumer Fair in the UK, BIT in Italy and the New York Times 2010 Travel Show.
 
Meanwhile, in its usual briefing before a trade fair, the STB met the trade partners yesterday when tourism marketing director Alain St Ange spoke on how best to present Seychelles in each of the markets so as to maximise opportunities and work as one team.

A good number of trade members going to the ITB had already left the country for meetings and other appointments before the fair.