Increased interest and a return to normal as Seychelles makes its mark at IFTM Top Resa |16 October 2021
Seychelles has participated physically in its first tourism trade fair since the onset of Covid-19.
This was in Paris last week at the 2021 IFTM Top Resa exhibition, France’s main international trade fair dedicated to tourism.
Bernadette Willemin, the Tourism department’s director general of destination marketing for Seychelles, who led the island destination’s five-member delegation to the event held at the Porte de Versailles in the French capital from October 5-8, 2021, said on her return to the islands that “IFTM Top Resa is a sign of return to normal life as it sets the tone for the re-launch of the industry. The trade fair was a great opportunity to showcase the islands’ products to the travel trade and the press and bring forward the different experiences on offer for visitors”.
Trade fairs such as IFTM Top Resa, which is in its 43rd edition, are valuable tools for almost any type of business. It allows one to create sales leads and provide opportunities to convert interest into a qualified lead. It is also a valuable networking opportunity with people and businesses from the industry and to create awareness about our business and our brand.
“During the four days we had the possibility to network, discuss and exchange proposals with our partners on means and ways to continue increasing our common business,” said Mrs Willemin.
Mrs Willemin reported increased interest in Seychelles by the destination’s French trade partners who are coming up with new ideas aimed at jointly promoting the Seychelles islands.
“We met with all our major tour operators, all the different airlines flying to our destination – carriers from Europe, the Middle East, the African carriers and not least, the French national airline which is gearing up to start operations at the end of this month. We held discussions with Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and of course Air France. Press and media were also at the rendez-vous with several meetings and interviews including one with well-known television channel TF1,” Mrs Willemin shared.
The local travel trade was represented at the show by the overseas representatives of Creole Travel Services, Mason’s Travel, Berjaya Hotels Seychelles and Mango House Seychelles, and virtually by Blue Safari Seychelles and North Island.
Mrs Willemin, who was accompanied by Jennifer Dupuy, the Tourism Seychelles marketing executive – France & Benelux based in Paris, expressed her satisfaction with the outcome of this year’s edition of the trade fair.
“The partners present all left the stand satisfied. We sincerely thank them all and hope to see more collaboration and partnership from Seychelles’ tourism industry at large to continue to grow the market, which is already showing positive sign of improvement in terms of arrival figures,” said Mrs Willemin.
Corroborating this assessment, Mason’s Travel representative Olivier Larue said, “We were happy to accompany Tourism Seychelles on this very first international physical presence event alongside other trade partners and to proudly promote our product and the destination at large. It was very encouraging to see a very high attendance at the start of the show and the enthusiasm and positive attitude of the trade partners in general.”
Press release from Tourism Seychelles