UK travel agents on dedicated Seychelles Training Academy and Roadshow |22 November 2016

The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) Office in the UK recently hosted a pre-World Travel Market Training Academy in London for the London-based travel agents. This was a full day event that took place on October 31 at a venue in Leicester Square, where a group of travel agents, press and some of the top selling Seychelles sales specialists were present.

Supported by Seychelles hoteliers, this event comprised training presentations and a Quiz Academy – whereby after the various partner presentations of their products, a series of multiple choice questions were provided to the audience, pertaining to each product and the destination – that the agents had to answer correctly.

All the agents providing the highest number of correct answers were placed into a lucky draw, with one winning a prize of an island hopping experience in the Seychelles.

This fabulous prize, provided by the Seychelles partners and the STB Office in the UK, would allow the lucky winner to Train on the Go – on site in the Seychelles, by experiencing the destination and its products first hand in order to further recommend to their clients and colleagues upon their return to the UK.

“It was an inspiring event with much enthusiasm and keen interest and amazing to see how many agents attentively listened to the various partner presentations in which they found their answers to the quiz questions,” said Tinaz Wadia, the manager of the STB Office in the UK.

This all day event allowed the agents to mingle with the local hotel partners and network accordingly. There were intermittent tea breaks between the presentations and the quiz was a two-pronged event – with the first half of the presentations and quiz questions concentrating on Mahé and the second half, after a sumptuous lunch interval, concentrating on Praslin, the inner islands and concluding with the outer islands.

The Training Academy was supported by Miss Wadia, Sam Leeding (Four Seasons Seychelles), Lauren Mills (Savoy Seychelles), Simone Berti (Kempinski Seychelles), Angelika Gerhold (Banyan Tree Seychelles), Jonathan King (Constance Hotels Seychelles), Ash Behari (Hotel Coco de Mer and Black Parrot Suites), Devi Pentamah (Hilton Hotels Seychelles) and Ravinia Larue (Denis Island Private, Indian Ocean Lodge and Carana Beach).

The above team of Seychelles hoteliers as well as the STB Office UK office then proceeded – on the days following the above event – to other areas of the UK namely Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford and Bath which took place from November 1 to 3. A series of ‘Train, Dine and Discover the Seychelles’ events were held at prestigious venues in these locations, where the UK travel trade, tour operators and travel press were present, to learn about and discover the beautiful Seychelles islands and its resorts.

Ms Wadia added that “it was also an opportunity for the attendees to discover the affordability of our ‘Seychelles Secrets’ portfolio being our charming traditional properties and the smaller guest houses and local fair that the Seychelles has to offer to them and to learn about the new air accesses into our destination as well as to meet and network with the hotel partners present”.

The great turn out and support by the UK travel trade as well as the many positive comments and thanks left behind emphasised the success of these events. The popularity of these events covered belongs to a series of on-going events that has taken place over the last eight years, being held twice annually, in the UK and the continuity thereof. The next such event will take place from March 14 to 16, 2017 after ITB.