Seychelles tourism marketers head to World Travel Market in London

Willemin said that Seychelles' participation is aimed at reinforcing its presence on the market to keep up the momentum. (Gerard Larose)

(Seychelles News Agency) - With the aim of keeping Seychelles as a destination in the limelight, Tourism Seychelles – the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism – is taking part in the World Travel Market in London taking place from November 7-9, said a top official on Tuesday.

In a press statement, the director general of marketing at the Tourism Department, Bernadette Willemin, stressed the importance of the destination's participation at the event.

"The UK is part of the top 10 markets for Seychelles. We have recorded some 18,431 visitors from the region until 30th October of this year. Our participation in the WTM this November is aimed at reinforcing our presence on the market to ensure we keep up the momentum," said Willemin.

She added that "we are conscious of two elements: on the one hand, the purchasing power of our potential visitors is decreasing every day, impacted by inflation worldwide, and secondly, our competitors around the world remain fierce. We need to strike while the iron is hot, and our aim for the coming days would be to strengthen our trade relationship with our partners on the market, to build new partnerships and continuously find ways to remain relevant on the market."

According to the figures of the National Bureau of Statistics released on November 3, a total of 275,523 visitors disembarked in Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean. Among the figures, 203,585 visitors came from European countries with France topping the list with 37,973 visitors. Germany is second with 37, 390 followed by Russia with 24,041.

The UK is currently in 4^th place with a total of 18,431 visitors to Seychelles from January to October 31.

The Seychelles' delegation at the 43rd edition of the prominent business-to-business travel and tourism exhibition for international travel professionals is headed by foreign affairs and tourism minister, Sylvestre Radegonde.

During the three-day event, participants will have the opportunity to hold business-to-business meetings with international buyers while engaging with potential buyers.