Italy remains 2nd strongest market for Seychelles

The Seychelles islands remains confident over the Italian market, which is its second strongest market, following the islands’ recent participation at the 48th edition of the TTG Incrontri trade fai

The Seychelles islands remains confident over the Italian market, which is its second strongest market, following the islands’ recent participation at the 48th edition of the TTG Incrontri trade fair, held in the city of Rimini, Italy.

The 2011 TTG Incontri, which is the major gateway to the Italian outbound market and the main point of reference in Italy for distribution of tourism-related tourism, was held from October 6-8.

TTG Incontri also provides a rich conference and forum calendar where highly-topical issues are introduced and debated by important international guest speakers.

Representing Seychelles at this trade fair were representatives from 14 trade partners, which consisted of Air Seychelles, Creole Travel Services, Mason’s Travel, Select Seychelles, Banyan Tree Seychelles, Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort, Coco de Mer Hotel & Black Parrot Suites, Cerf Island Resort, Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort & Spa and Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort & Spa, Le Meridien Seychelles Resorts, Le Relax Hotels, Paradise Sun Hotel, North Island, and Desroches, joined by the Seychelles Tourism Board.

The Seychelles Tourism Board was being represented by its Deputy Chief Executive, Elsia Grandcourt, and Manager for its Italy-based Tourism Office, Monette Rose, along with her Marketing Executive, Yasmine Pocetti.

Deemed as a great success this year, the 2011 TTG trade fair saw a record growth of 14% compared to last year’s edition with a total of 48,735 visitors.

The whole fairground of 16 pavilions had welcomed 2, 400 companies representing over 130 companies in different tourism sectors.

It is to be noted that during the dinner organized by TTG for participating Tourism Boards where Seychelles was cited as being one of the dream holidays of most holiday makers, a new important event, the Art & Tourism Fair that will be held in Florence in May 2012, was presented to guests.

Mrs. Grandcourt has said that this event will be an opportune platform for Seychelles to showcase its art and culture in Italy.

“Artists from the archipelago will benefit from meeting others [from] different corners of the world, sharing their opinions and views,” she said.

Italy remains one of the most important markets for Seychelles tourism, and TTG Incontri represents a great opportunity to keep in touch with the Italian trade fair, said Ms. Rose.

“As observed at this year’s TTG, the Italian trade is more and more interested in Seychelles especially with the upgrading of the hotels and new hotels opening up,” she said, adding, “The idea of Seychelles becoming a sustainable destination makes it more appealing for a world whereby we seem to forget about the nature and the eco-system.”

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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