Emirates to add three weekly flights to Seychelles |19 January 2011

In a press release yesterday, it said the new flights come with the launch of the Connecting the World to Seychelles campaign and will increase capacity by 42% per week per direction.

Increasing the weekly flights from seven to 10 means the airline will offer “even more flexibility to leisure travellers around the world to visit the popular destination”.

The campaign will also comprise special packages to Seychelles, and familiarisation trips for tour operators and media groups, among other marketing activities.

Majid Al Mualla, Emirates’ senior vice-president commercial operations, West Asia and Indian Ocean, said: “Emirates started 2010 with only four flights to Seychelles. In March 2011 we will operate 10 flights to the archipelago.
“The fact that we have more than doubled our frequency to Seychelles in little more than a year demonstrates the robustness and efficiency of our efforts on this route.

“We have consistently created awareness of the attractions of the archipelago in various markets and now, with the new campaign being unrolled, we are increasing the intensity of our marketing drive”.

Mr Al Mualla added that Emirates sees itself as a partner of Seychelles; the introduction of three extra flights is a clear statement that it supports Seychelles’ tourism industry.

As part of the new campaign Emirates will support the International Carnival of Victoria, which will take place from March 4-6 to showcase the multi-racial origins of Seychelles under the theme Melting Pot of Cultures.

The airline will promote and create awareness of this major event in new markets such as the Czech Republic, Spain, Brazil, Russia, the Middle East, India, Korea, China and Japan.

Since the launch of Emirates’ service to Seychelles in 2005, the number of tourists from Russia and Asia has doubled. Also, there were 9,929 visitors from the Middle East last year.