Seychelles welcomes first charter flight from Bulgaria |31 January 2022

Mrs Willemin and the 7°South Ltd team in a souvenir photograph

The Tourism department and the destination management company and tour operator 7°South Ltd, on Saturday welcomed the arrival of the first of a series of charters from Sofia, Bulgaria for the year 2022.

The Bulgaria Air, Airbus320, landed at the Seychelles International Airport at 8am with 180 passengers from the Balkan region.

Other than the Tourism department and 7°South Ltd, the charter flight has been made possible with the assistance of four Bulgarian partners – Luxutour, Exotic Holiday, Marbro Tours and Planet Travel Centre as the main organiser and the honorary consul general for Seychelles in Bulgaria, Maxim Behar.

Present at the airport to meet and greet the 180 passengers outside of the airport were senior and other staff members from both the department of Tourism and 7°South Ltd.

The passengers also had the chance to appreciate some of our traditional tunes and dance from local music group ‘Lecho’.

The director general for marketing at the department of Tourism, Bernadette Willemin, said that having such special flight helps to generate extra volume for the country.

She noted that the flight was also in line with the strategy of the department to secure extra business from the Eastern part of Europe.

She added that the department will continue to develop working partnership with partners to ensure that they continue to secure such special flights throughout the year, in addition to the regular scheduled flights.

Mrs Willemin noted that all passengers coming to the country from any region are of great importance to the country and it is the reason why they have been placing great importance on targeting passengers from Eastern Europe among other potential markets from outside of their main niche markets.

The managing director for 7°South Ltd, Andre Butler-Payette, said the flight is a proud achievement for the company as well as its local and international partners and also for the country.

He explained that the charter took months to organise which include working and collaborating with the local and international partners and also going to Bulgaria for marketing.

He said the flight proves that the capacity is there to tap in such markets that were unproductive for the country and that the company will continue to collaborate with partners to secure such special flights from those unpopular markets.

Corinne Delpech, director marketing, products and contracting, 7°South Ltd, stated that the company will be welcoming its second organised charter flight from Sofia on February 26, 2022.

She added that the company hopes for more charter flights from Bulgaria or elsewhere during the course of the year, noting that the success of such flight is good for tourism and for the country.

Most of the 180 passengers will spend their week holiday on Mahé, with 58 of them to be spending their holiday on Praslin and 7 of them will be at Labriz Silhouette while the plane and the six crew members wait to take them back home next Saturday February 5, 2022.

Patrick Joubert

Photos by Louis Toussaint