Seychelles represented at Corporate Travel Planners Roadshow in Abu Dhabi |30 November 2019
The Seychelles stand at the Roadshow (Photo source: STB News Bureau)
Maximising its exposure in the Middle East, the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) participated in a Corporate Travel Planners Roadshow held at the DusitThani Hotel in Abu Dhabi.
The roadshow, which took place on November 20, 2019, was organised by dnata Abu Dhabi with the objective of connecting the corporate travel bookers to the key service facilitators.
The event saw the participation of over 90 key travel planners/bookers from dnata’s prestigious corporate account and 20 exhibitors providing various travel services including airlines, hotel chains and tourism boards. This involved the STB featuring Seychelles as a versatile destination of choice in the Indian Ocean.
The Corporate Travel Planner Roadshow attracted mainly frequent travellers from the corporate world such as travel managers, procurement managers and travel officers all keen to keep abreast of the services available on the market.
The destination was represented by Aliette Esther, tourism attaché based in Abu Dhabi, and was assisted in promoting the Seychelles in the roadshow by Cerf Island Resort representative Foram Varsani. Both were working in unison to provide information about the destination. Mrs Varsani also used the opportunity to explain the facilities and activities available to potential clients at the Cerf Island Resort.
Commenting on the STB’s participation at the event, Ms Esther explained that it falls in line with STB’s strategy for visibility as well as educating its partners.
“It is important to be constantly on the road to promote the destination especially in this day and age where the competition is tough. It is important also to keep managing our relationship vis-à-vis our travel trades partners and update their knowledge of our destination. This can be achieved by reminding partners that Seychelles is a versatile destination, which also includes services for the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) segments,” said Ms Esther.
“I had a fruitful visit to Abu Dhabi to attend two events which took place on November 20 & 21. I am pleasantly surprised to see the marketing & awareness, which is done by STB as I found great number of corporate and tourism establishments interested in the destination.
“I am very grateful for all the help and support I received during my visit from Aliette to draw more business to our shores,” Mrs Varsani said.
“At the moment, the UAE is the 5th biggest market for the Seychelles,” Ms Esther pointed out. “Roadshows such as this one will certainly help in getting the UAE to climb a notch higher on the ladder. At the end of the day, the more visitors we get, whether it be from the UAE or any other parts of the world, the ultimate benefactors are the Seychellois people. In the process, we will be sharing some of the beauty and culture of our islands with the visitors. It is a win-win situation all around. We look forward to participating in similar events in the future.”
According to the latest Knight Frank’s 2018 City Wealth Index, Abu Dhabi is the richest city in the GCC.
Ms Esther further mentioned that the affluence in Abu Dhabi and the regular daily flights availability – 3 times a day from the two UAE hubs (Abu Dhabi and Dubai), a 4-hour flying time make the city an excellent place to market the destination.
With the five-day long National Day holiday coming up at the end of November early December, the roadshow was well timed and Ms Esther and Mrs Varsani at the STB and Cerf Island Resort stalls were kept busy answering questions about attractions and activities on the islands of Seychelles.
Press release from STB News Bureau