Seychelles Tourism Board and Emirates Airline renew global marketing agreement

The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) and Emirates Airline have renewed aglobal marketing agreement that will see the Dubai-based airline raise the tourism destination profile of the Indian Ocean island archipelagelo. Oscar Nkala reports.
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STB executive director Sherin Francis said the agreement, which was renewed at the Arabian Travel Market event held last week, would fortify the board's marketing effort with potentially good results for the overall tourism industry.

“To date Emirates remains the airline which brings the biggest share of visitors to our island nation. It is therefore important for us to maintain this relationship. The partnership provides Seychelles with additional visibility advantages through attendance of marketing activities such as annual tourism trade shows and expos," Francis said.

Trade familiarisation visits, product presentations and workshops are among the activities lined up for to promote Seychelles through the collaboration.

Emirates senior vice president of commercial operation for Africa Orhan Abbas said the relationship with Seychelles was a key driver of their business in the Indian Ocean Rim.

“Our success on this route to the island destination is the result of relentless marketing efforts by all parties. Our joint activities have been fruitful and this can be demonstrated by the fact that we operate a double-daily service between Dubai and the Seychelles,” Abbas said.

According to the Seychelles National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), over 24,000 tourists from the United Arab Emirates visited Seychelles in 2016, up from around 20,400 in 2015. Emirates connects the Seychelles to Dubai and 150 other destinations in the Middle East, Asia, Australasia, the Americas and Europe.