'Our home, your sanctuary' - new tourism campaign touts Seychelles as safe destination

The board revealed that the campaign, amidst times of uncertainty, aims to give travellers worldwide hope and the prospect of escaping the harsh COVID-19 realities by calling them to submerge themselves in the natural allure of Seychelles as a pristine paradise. (Gerard Larose, Seychelles Tourism Board)

(Seychelles News Agency) - A new campaign with the tagline 'Experience Seychelles; our home, your sanctuary' launched by the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) on Tuesday aims at boosting visitor confidence in the island nation as a safe destination.

The board revealed that the campaign, amidst times of uncertainty, aims to give travellers worldwide hope and the prospect of escaping the harsh COVID-19 realities by calling them to submerge themselves in the natural allure of Seychelles as a pristine paradise. 

'Experience Seychelles; our home, your sanctuary' - highlighted in a series of videos - follows STB's digital campaign 'Dream now, Experience Seychelles Later' launched in April this year.

STB's chief executive Sherin Francis told a press conference that the campaign is paving the way for the destination to present various markets and segments with other marketing initiatives that are to come.

"We are aware that in these uncertain times and in a competitive environment, the conversion of this campaign to actual sales of holidays will not be immediate. This is why we feel it is important for us to remain visible to our potential clients."

Seychelles and its economy has been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and global travel downturn, but not by the virus itself. Seychelles has seen no deaths from the virus  and for now there are seven active cases.

According to Francis the timing for the release of the campaign has been chosen purposely as it is focusing on a long-term visibility strategy to reboot travel in the islands.   

The hotelier explained the word sanctuary offers visitors a safe place to come and where they can extend their stay up to three months and work as well while waiting for things to improve.  (Fregate Island Private) Photo License: All Rights Reserved

"After much preparation with the help of our government and local industry partners, we have seen that the destination is ready to welcome visitors to our islands. Whilst the campaign's main aim is to remind visitors that there is a secluded paradise awaiting their arrival, it also highlights the safety measures and procedures were taken by tourism establishments to ensure travellers can experience Seychelles without worries" added Francis. 

Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism Association chairperson (SHTA), Sybille Cardon, said that the association and the private sector have welcomed and supported this new campaign. 

"It is important like the CEO has said that Europe, in general, does not forget Seychelles. If they want to, they can dream they can always see images, the beaches and all that we have here, which makes them want to come and take refuge here in Seychelles," said Cordon.

Seychelles – 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean – reopened its borders on June 1, for leisure boats, chartered and private flights. Two months later on August 1, the airport reopened for commercial flights to restart the tourism industry. Since then up to the first week of September, some 2,600 tourists have travelled to Seychelles. But this is a far cry to what the islands were used to before COVID -19 when this was the daily number of visitors who arrived here.