Emirates brochure launch-Seychelles strengthens position as family-friendly destination |07 June 2008

Staff from the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) and Creole Travel Services (CTS) took part in the Emirates Holidays – a World of Choice 2008-09 brochure launch from May 2-4.

The brochure launch is an annual fair grouping travel agents working with Emirates tour operators across the globe and also attracting travel consumers. More than 450 travel agents and 5,000 members of the public attended this year’s launch.

The brochure is an extensive guide of four volumes, featuring more than 120 destinations worldwide. The Seychelles Islands are featured in the Middle East, Africa and Indian Ocean brochure, highlighting some of the key features and attributes of an ultimate holiday setting and featuring the hotels and resorts catering to the Middle East market.

The STB, along with CTS, took part for the sixth consecutive year with a stronger focus on the family segment, repositioning Seychelles from its perception of being a beach/honeymoon destination. 

Through various team activities, the STB and CTS educated and increased the travel agents’ knowledge about Seychelles as a family destination catering for the various family segments within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

The first day of the event was open to consumers, and the Seychellois stand successfully targeted children through creative and educational activities using Fi-Fi, a fictional character created last year to position Seychelles as a family-friendly destination. 

This year the children were introduced to ‘Fi-Fi and her friends’ to further educate children in a playful way and to instil in them the desire to explore the country.

Amia Jovanovic-Desir, STB destination manager, said: “This strategy and lively animation throughout the day successfully attracted parents and their children who were keen to learn more about Seychelles as a family holiday destination.”

As part of the STB’s promotional activities during the event, two competitions were held to educate children – one in which they wrote a poem about the destination and the second, for younger ones, was a chance to create one of Fi-Fi’s friends.

The children were given information highlighting features attracting them to Seychelles, and the young artists were rewarded for their creativity with branded rucksacks, caps and Fi-Fi’s educational holiday guide to Seychelles, along with newly launched Fi-Fi Tour leaflets from CTS.

The holiday guide features an array of adventures children can experience during their holiday, educating them about local culture and the environment.

Children were also given the chance to become members of the Fi-Fi Club and sign up for the newsletter.

On the travel trade days, agents took part in a team game created to highlight key attributes of the family sectors and to help them understand which products and attractions match the family segments of the GCC.  
The winning team over the two days was awarded a trip to Seychelles.

Julie Muirhead, regional director of the Seychelles Tourism Office – Middle East, said: “We were overwhelmed with interest in the destination and the feedback received from both the travel trade and the consumer was extremely positive. Our objective this year to increase awareness and educate both the trade and consumers about Seychelles as a family destination was a great success.”

The STB and CTS sponsored a delicious Creole-inspired lunch during the first trade day, to offer 600 guests a “taste of Seychelles” and thank them for their support and cooperation.

During the lunch, Seychellois musicians Ekzotik and the Arc-en-Ciel dancers from the College of the Arts, who came to the Middle East specially for the three-day event, performed to showcase and express the Creole culture. The new Seychelles DVD was also shown to the travel trade for the first time during the lunch, and extra features of Seychelles were created through ice and butter carvings.

The event ended with a gala dinner to thank the industry for its contribution and to celebrate the success of the event.