Seychelles official partner of Hamburg Travel Fair |08 February 2014

The sought after tourism destination of the Seychelles is this year the official partner of the Hamburg Travel Fair of Germany.

This opportunity has been grabbed by the island's Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St Ange who travelled to Hamburg accompanied by the Seychelles Tourism Board’s (STB) chief executive Sherin Naiken and STB’s Paris-based director for Europe Bernadette Willemin.
 
The Seychelles delegation were also joined by the manager of the Seychelles Frankfurt Office Edith Hunzinger and STB’s senior marketing executive Christine Vel, who is also based in Paris.

Max Hunzinger, the Seychelles honorary consul in Frankfurt was also present in Hamburg to assist with protocol matters and to facilitate as much as possible the official appointments for the Seychelles delegation.

Minister St Ange, along with Bernd Aufderheide, the president and chief executive of the Hamburg Messe und Congress, addressed the Hamburg Tourism Fair pre-opening press conference.
“This is a great opportunity for Seychelles. It will go a long way to help keep our beautiful islands visible and relevant as the favourite holiday destination for the Germans," Minister St.Ange said.

'DIE WELT', one of the print media present at this press conference, carried a story on Seychelles’ stand at the fair where a cultural troupe from the islands were performing and two visual artists showing off their works of art depicting Seychelles culture.

'DIE WELT' remains one of the very influential German newspapers that is read nationally and internationally. In its article that followed the Hamburg Tourism Fair press conference, 'DIE WELT' emphasises the points made by Minister St Ange on the question of affordability of the Seychelles and on the efforts being made by the government to promote the ‘home grown’, smaller tourism accommodation establishments.

'DIE WELT' also reports on the environment policy of the Seychelles which is aimed at preservation at all cost, and where over 50% of the island's total land area having today been declared national parks.

The Hamburg Tourism Fair is Northern Germany’s No. 1 tourism show that is taking place on the fairgrounds of Germany’s second-largest city from February 5-9, 2014.

Minister St Ange, who also gave several interviews to television and the print media after the press conference, highlighted that Germany is a key tourism market for Seychelles.

"Germany is today our second most important tourism market and it is growing by the day,” he said.