Seychelles Tourism Board strengthens its outreach in India with three-city roadshow

Mumbai, 4^th October 2019: Seychelles Tourism Board successfully conducted three-city roadshow in Chennai, Ahmedabad & Delhi on 16^th, 18^th and 20^th September 2019 respectively, to strengthen its outreach among the travel trade fraternity in India. To retain the growth momentum of Indian arrivals into Seychelles, the tourism board along with destination management companies, hotels on main as well as private islands and Air Seychelles connected with around 225 prominent travel & tour companies of India. This interactive roadshow platform with prefixed meetings allowed trade partners and travel agents to network and learn more about the diverse product offerings and experiences that Seychelles has to offer.

Hotels that participated this year were Berjaya Hotels and Resorts, Club Med Seychelles, Cerf Island Resort, Enchanted Island Resort, Four Seasons, Hilton Resort & Spa, MAIA Luxury Resort, Savoy Resort & Spa & Coral Strand Smart Choice Hotel, along with Variety Cruises and DMC’s that participated include Creole Travel Services, Mason's Travel and Vision Voyage along with Air Seychelles which is the national carrier. Together these companies will help Indian tour operators design and deliver Seychelles’ products for the new-age traveller from these cities.

Mrs. Elsie Sinon from the STB headquarters attended the roadshow and expressed her satisfaction on the successful event conducted in India. She emphasised that such events connect and create better understanding between service providers and the audience and particularly affect new-age travellers from India while retaining the growth momentum of Indian arrivals into the Seychelles islands.

Commenting on the event, Ms. Sherin Francis, STB Chief Executive stated, “The annual roadshow in India is a marketing event that is extremely substantial for the destination. It gives us immense pleasure to see our Indian partners always eager to keep updated with Seychelles. This roadshow was well attended and received a remarkable response from all three cities. India represents a substantial and vast market for Seychelles and these planned events help us to understand the current market dynamics and connect with the existing as well as potential Indian tour operators.”

Ms. Lubaina Sheerazi, STB representative in India further added, “We are extremely pleased to have received positive and encouraging feedback from stakeholders about the format and quality of meetings conducted at the roadshow. Delhi and Ahmedabad have been among the top three markets for Seychelles and we wanted to revisit these cities to ensure quality engagement with all trade partners there. With our marketing strategies and efforts, we continue this engagement and reach out to more potential markets in the coming years.”

As part of our marketing strategy, each year we plan to target newer cities in India through roadshows, workshops and selective meetings.

The Seychelles Islands Webinar- deep diving into the islands of love

Mumbai, 19^th July 2019: Seychelles Tourism Board along with TravelGyaan will conduct a destination training webinar for tour operators across India on 31^st July 2019 at 3pm IST to enhance understanding of the destination in the India market. This one hour of live training session will provide operators with detailed information on the Seychelles islands, unique activities, must visit locations along with the various categories of hotels and transport options available between islands.

Ms. Lubaina Sheerazi, COO, Blue Square Consultants, Seychelles Tourist Office comments “Webinar has been an effective marketing tool to reach out to wider audience in one go; particularly for B2B activities with the approach and format reinventing and changing in many ways over the years. We conducted our first webinar in 2017 and received an incredible response post the training session from the travel industry. This year the webinar will be much more focused and will cover Seychelles in depth. This webinar is a must attend for prospective operators to take a deep dive into understanding the nuances of Seychelles in order to promote the destination better.”

This activity will allow Seychelles Tourism Board to distribute information to smaller cities of India that have the clientele and give them the right reasons to choose Seychelles over competing destinations. The webinar will be attended upon registration by an online audience for one hour which will be recorded making it available on the training website for the next 3 months. It will also include a segment that will answer questions sent by the live audience during the presentation. 

We invite tour operators to make the best of this opportunity and get a better understanding of the destination by registering on the given link- https://bit.ly/2JGeAcW

Seychelles Tourism Board strengthens trade relations in Pune, Bangalore and Chandigarh through workshops

Mumbai, 15^th May 2019: Seychelles Tourism Board successfully conducted workshops in Pune (21^st February 2019), Bangalore (19^th March 2019) and Chandigarh (9^th May 2019) to train potential travel trade partners and equip them with detailed information about various offerings in Seychelles. This enabled Seychelles Tourism Board to meet many potential travel agents in the three cities and lay the groundwork for future sales visits with potential operators. These workshops included a destination presentation, question and answer round followed by networking session that was attended by around 45 – 50 tour operators in each of the three cities.

Commenting on the success of the workshops Ms. Lubaina Sheerazi, COO, Blue Square Consultants, Seychelles Tourist office India said, “Seychelles has so much to offer beyond its beautiful beaches and has gained immense popularity among Indians in the past couple of years. Taking a step further, our focus has been to widen our outreach beyond the metro cities as we see a lot of potential travelers in tier two cities. Conducting workshops and trainings have helped us to create awareness about Seychelles, build relationships with travel agents in new regions, understand real challenges of travelers from different cities and offer customized solutions. Looking at the great response we received from these cities, we plan to conduct similar trainings in tier two cities like Raipur and Nagpur as well.”

Visa on arrival, direct flight connectivity along with scenic views, uncrowded beaches, tropical weather throughout the year and many exotic experiences makes Seychelles an ideal destination for Indians.  The country has seen a steady growth in tourist arrivals from India this year and ranks India as the top 6^th source market for Seychelles.