Seychelles joins marketing campaign in South America |18 December 2010
The campaign was launched recently in Buenos Aires, where the Seychelles Tourism Board
In the first such joint venture in South America, the partners opened with a travel industry seminar promoting a series of six set-itinerary programmes to major retail travel agencies in the Argentinian capital.
The seminar attracted an audience of 142 travel agency owners and senior sales specialists, as well as key figures in the travel industry, travel and consumer media, and cable TV tourism journalists.
Unforgettable Places was launched with an enthusiastic opening address by Tony Leon, the South African ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
It is expected to deliver substantial new business in what is South Africa’s closest international tourism source market outside the African continent itself.
With Cape Town as South America’s natural gateway – seven hours and 15 minutes away by non-stop flight from Buenos Aires – and with demand peaking after the coverage that the football World Cup brought to the Argentine population, the timing could not have been better to launch such an ambitious and creative regional marketing campaign.
David Germain, Seychelles’ tourism director for Africa and the Americas, said: “Tourism on our continent will hit new heights when we in Africa work together in our drive to attract visitors to our part of the world, and this initiative is a clear example of how countries complementing one another can work towards a ‘win-win’ situation for all.”
The Unforgettable Places campaign is aimed at highlighting to the Argentine traveller and travel trade why they should visit and combine the regional destinations of Cape Town and the Cape Garden Route, Mpumalanga’s natural wonders and world-beating safari activities, and the beautiful Seychelles islands.
Seychelles’ attributes that are being strongly promoted in this campaign are the white sandy beaches, distinctive Creole culture and cuisine, together with a natural eco-system that time has left untouched.
David Frandsen, executive manager for international marketing at Cape Town Routes Unlimited, said: “This campaign is the realisation of creative destination marketing, combining the unique beauty and cosmopolitan lifestyle of one of the world’s globally iconic cities and regions with some of Africa’s top safari experiences and the idyllic tropical island destination of Seychelles.
“We are convinced that these exotic destinations will prove popular in Argentina. Given the air connectivity options between Buenos Aires and South Africa, and the recent publicity provided by the 2010 Fifa World Cup, it makes sense to invest in initiatives of this sort to grow the tourism market from South America into Cape Town and the Western Cape.”
The Unforgettable Places campaign began last month and will run through to the end of May next year, with the likelihood of it being extended if marketing returns show it to have been a success.