STB holds seminar to better understand how to tap into the Indian market |04 July 2017

The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) held a seminar on the Indian Tourism Indian Market to better understand how to develop the market and how to meet the expectations of Indian travellers to our shores.

For STB, the Indian travel market is a relatively new one as the local tourism industry is used to European travellers. The seminar therefore was aimed at taking stakeholders in the tourism trade on a short trip through the minds of Indian travellers by providing an opportunity to better understand the Indian traveller and what the STB office in India is doing to achieve that aim.

Guest speakers were chief executive (CEO) of STB, Sherin Francis; CEO of Blue Square Consultants in India working for STB, Lubaina Sheerazi; the head of marketing, guest affairs and loyalty of Air Seychelles, Sabrina Agathine and other prominent representatives of travel bureaus or agencies in India.

In her opening remarks, Mrs Francis pointed out the difference between the Indian travel market and that of the European one which she said has different behaviour, expectations and that the Indian market represents a significant share of outbound travellers.

She said the Indians are just next door within a three-hour flight and also have more or less the same traditions as ours and have a lot in common like the same ocean.

She said tourism today is developing and evolving at a great pace and that such a seminar is a valuable tool if properly used that will enable the country to tailor-made its efforts to ensure the Indian travellers enjoy a wonderful experience in our islands.

“It is an opportunity right there and then just ready for us to tap into. We just need to understand their requirements, to understand them and what makes them tick,” she said.

The seminar, she also added, opens up valuable opportunities like weddings, that if well managed, hold the potential for future growth of our tourism industry.

In her presentation, Ms Sheerazi said her company has been promoting Seychelles in India for the last three and a half years, so now they have a fair bit of understanding of the destination and the type of Indian traveller visiting Seychelles.

She said almost 22,000 odd tourists from India who have visited Seychelles in the past three years have done a great word of mouth publicity, leading to more and more interest for the destination. And, she said, this is the time for her office to build on what has worked in their favour and what has not so they are ready for the next 20,000 travellers.

She went through India’s specificities that point to the potentials of the travel markets there. She said India is estimated to generate 6.5 million outbound luxury and miles tourists annually by 2020.

On what makes the Indian traveller a valuable proposition and India a potential source market for tourism brand across the world, Ms Sheerazi has this to say: “India has a stable government that won by majority. India has a stable stock market. A refreshing growth economy which is resilient to external forces. India is the second fastest growing outbound travel market in the world. UNWTO predicted today’s 20 million outbound Indian travellers to more than double to 40 to 50 million over the next three years. Every year more than 20 million Indians go abroad to conduct businesses, attend meetings, study, holiday, shop, honeymoon and visit friends and relatives. In five years India will rank the youngest country demographically,” she said. And this is precisely why virtually all of the world’s largest airlines fly in and out of India. And this is almost why every country’s tourism board, most hotel brands and international travel companies have offices and are expanding their presence in India. And that everyone wants a piece of the Indian outbound tourism.

As for Air Seychelles’ involvement, Ms Agathine in her presentation said the national airline operates 5 weekly flights from Mumbai to the Seychelles. It code shares with Jet Airways to other destinations in India.

“India is a key player on our network and it feeds Seychelles but as an airline we also see more than just feeding the Seychelles,” she said, adding the airline also provides connection to Mauritius, Madagascar, South Africa either through leisure traffic or through its friends and family segment.

As for the way forward, Ms Agathine said one of the short term objectives of Air Seychelles is to benchmark itself against competing airlines and destinations to offer more competitive fares for weddings/ MICE business and to target wedding businesses 2 to 3 months before the start of the season instead of ad-hoc. Hotels and DMCs to offer cost effective packages especially for weddings and it will partner with STB to continuously increase awareness of Seychelles as a leisure destination, among others.