Tourism Minister leads strong Seychelles delegation at World Travel Market, London

The Minister for Tourism and Culture, Alain St.Ange, in the presence of Marie Pierre Lloyd, the High Commissioner for the Seychelles in the United Kingdom, will this morning be at the Seychelles stand

The Minister for Tourism and Culture, Alain St.Ange, in the presence of Marie Pierre Lloyd, the High Commissioner for the Seychelles in the United Kingdom, will this morning be at the Seychelles stand in Excel, London for the opening of the World Travel Market, London, being held from November 2 to November 5, 2015.

A strong presence of 16 companies consisting of the national airline, hotel companies, and DMCs grace the Seychelles stand this year.

Participating partners include: Air Seychelles โ€“ Ms. Cindy Vidot & Christine Ozouf, Masons Travel โ€“ Ms. Amy Michel & Mr. Lenny Alvis, Creole Travel Services โ€“ Ms. Blaisila Hoffmann & Ms. Hanifah Morel, 7 South โ€“ Mrs. Anna Butler Payette, Avani Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa โ€“ Ms. Anna Pothin, Banyan Tree Seychelles โ€“ Mr. Mourad Essafi, Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort and Casino โ€“ Ms. Wendy Tan, Coco De Mer Hotel & Black Parrot Suites โ€“ Mr. Ash Behari, Cerf Island Resort โ€“ Mrs. Foram Varsani, Coral Strand – Denis Verkhorubhov, Enchanted Island โ€“ Mr. Thierry Macquet, Denis Island Private โ€“ Mrs. Bessie Etienne & Mr. Alan Mason, Hilton Seychelles โ€“ Ms. Smital Shah-Boultwood, The H-Resort โ€“ Ms. Isabel Le Strat & Mr. Dominique Richard-Hebert, Saint Anne Resort & Spa โ€“ Mr. Norbert Couvreur, Savoy Seychelles Resort & Spa โ€“ Mr. Ravil Zaripov.

The Seychelles Tourism Board is being represented by: Mrs. Bernadette Willemin โ€“ Director for Europe, Ms. Tinaz Wadia โ€“ Manager UK Office, Ms. Eloise Vidot โ€“ Marketing Executive โ€“ UK, and Mrs. Maria Morel โ€“ Senior Marketing Executive from the Tourism Board head office.

UK arrival figures to the Seychelles has this year increased by 33% year on year. This increase has immensely been supported by the UK travel trade. The UK currently sits at 5th position for tourism arrivals to the Seychelles. With such a big delegation and support of the local Seychelles trade partners being represented at WTM this year, it will hopefully keep the growing confidence of the UK travel operators and agent in continuing to sell the destination and increase the UK sales figures. The outlook on the UK market currently looks positive and should this trend continue, it is hoped that it will emerge as a primary market for the Seychelles once more.

This year World Travel Market London 2015, the leading global event for the industry, has signed up almost 250 new exhibitors. The 247 newcomers hail from all 4 corners of the globe and represent every travel sector, including airlines, tourist boards, luxury resorts, and technology specialists. They range from large corporations to small-business entrepreneurs.

Together they will contribute to some of the 1.1 million on-stand meetings that are expected to lead to more than ยฃ2.5 billion worth of deals being agreed during the 4 days of the show.

Other events within WTM London 2015 also welcome new exhibitors: The Travel Tech Show at WTM London has 40, while A Taste of ILTM at WTM London has 19 new exhibitors. New technology brands range from large, well-established suppliers of travel technology such as Atcore to start-ups such as software technology development company Celigra.

WTM London, Senior Exhibition Director, Simon Press said: โ€œThe fact that WTM London has signed up almost 250 new exhibitors shows how immensely important the global travel trade sees this event.

โ€œThe variety of new exhibitors is impressive, with small, entrepreneurial start-ups to tourist boards to well-established global operators and everything in between. With many opportunities to network and conference sessions that cover the whole spectrum of the industry, there is no better place to do business than WTM London.โ€

WTM London is considered the leading global event for the travel industry and the must-attend 4-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry bringing together travel professionals from 186 countries and regions to London for this event.

Almost 51,500 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers, and international press, embark on ExCeL, London every November to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at WTM. During the show, Minister St.Ange will be representing the Seychelles at some high-profile meetings and forums.

WTM London, now in its 36th year, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals.

WTM London is part of Reed Travel Exhibitionโ€™s World Travel Market events, which also includes Arabian Travel Market, World Travel Market Latin America and World Travel Market Africa.

Seychelles is a founding member of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) . For more information on Seychelles Minister of Tourism and Culture Alain St.Ange, click here.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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