It was a successful event for Seychelles at the 43rd World Travel Market (WTM) London, held from November 7-9, at ExCel in London.
Located in the Indian Ocean and African region not far from our geographical neighbours Mauritius and Madagascar, the Seychelles Islands with only a 100 square metre wooden stand bearing simple rustic and green décor, made quite an effect on the crowds. Its concept represented the authentic and lush essence of the destination.
During the three-day event, the Seychelles’ stand remained busy, with the participants holding daily meetings with trade partners, big international buyers and representatives of other markets while engaging potential buyers.
Present on the stand for the event, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, and the director general for Destination Marketing, Bernadette Willemin, met with several key partners, including the international media partners.
The delegation also comprised Tourism Seychelles’ director for the UK and Ireland territory, Karen Confait, the senior officer from Tourism Seychelles headquarters, Lizanne Moncherry and Marie-Julie Stephen, senior PR officer also based at Botanical House.
For this year’s edition, which was essentially focused on Business-to-Business exchanges, eight travel trade partners joined the team to promote the destination and its products. They included three destination marketing companies (DMCs), represented by Eric Renard and Melissa Quatre from Creole Travel Services; Alan Mason and Lenny Alvis from Mason’s Travel and Andre Butler Payette from 7° South. Lisa Burton represented Variety Cruises, the only cruise company present at the event.
Hotel properties were represented by Nives Deininger from STORY Seychelles; Serena Di Fiore and Britta Krug from Hilton Seychelles Hotels; Jean-François Richard from Kempinski Seychelles and Shamita Palit from Laila- A Tribute Portfolio Resort.
Minister Ragedonde and Mrs Willemin maximised the destination’s presence at the event to enhance the visibility of Seychelles. They attended various meetings with strategic partners looking at reinforcing cooperation between Seychelles and media collaborators interested in promoting the destination on their respective platforms.
The Tourism minister was also interviewed by seven media houses, in the likes of BBC, CNBC International, and Travel Mole, among others.
He extensively engaged the various media on the new strategies of the destination to revamp its tourism industry.
During these interventions, Minister Radegonde reaffirmed the destination’s commitment to sustainability and green tourism.
He further mentioned some of the projects started, notably the ‘Lospitalite’ service excellence programme and the cultural experience project, which is being finalised for implementation.
Speaking at the event, Minister Radegonde expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the event.
“Our participation was an exceptional occasion for Seychelles as a destination to be more visible, not only on the UK market but also to other European countries. It is such a pride for a small destination like Seychelles to stand next to the giants of the travel world and still know that as a destination, we remain relevant in the way we conduct our business,” said Minister Radegonde.
On her part, Mrs Willemin stated that there is still a great demand for the destination, and this was witnessed by the great flow of meeting requests and appointments recorded by partners.
“We were pleased to see that our international partners hold Seychelles close to their hearts. Our presence did not go unnoticed and our small team was overwhelmed with meeting requests. I am sure that all participating companies would agree that it was an excellent time to strengthen our trade relationship with our existing partners on the market. We also had the opportunity to start engaging with new partners,” said Mrs Willemin.
Aside from the WTM, the Seychelles team also attended several networking events organised by partners from the UK.
With 18,893 visitors recorded from January to November 6, the UK remains the 4th best source market for Seychelles.
Source: Seychelles Nation