The Archipelago of the Seychelles located 1000 miles off the East Coast of Africa has some of the world’s most beautiful beaches and coastlines, and some of them continue to receive award yearly as the world’s most clean & serene beaches. Seychelles is a popular holiday destination for some of the world’s most famous personalities as well, royalties among others.
The Indian Ocean Islands has upped its marketing activation towards the African market and with 12% of its 365,000 arrivals coming from Africa, the time was just right to attract Africans to the island.
The Seychelles Tourism Board recently organized an African press trip to the island for them to sample and also share the diverse tourism offerings to the African market. Speaking to VoyagesAfriq during this year’s World Travel Market -Africa in Cape Town, David Germain the Director responsible for the Africa and American market said, the island offers more than just the alluring beaches.
Pristine, uncrowded, safe, and mostly untouched by heavy commercial influence, these Indian Ocean islands remain in high demand for honeymooners.
Mr Germain said that Seychelles as a destination offers more than just beaches, and that the archipelago has a lot of unique attractions with a great variety of activities which a visitor can do during their holiday, from diving, snorkeling, culinary tourism, cultural tourism, nature trials and tours and excursions to the neighboring islands, activities which is very appropriate for the African travelers.
‘’We market Seychelles in 7 countries in Africa, other than South Africa. Reasons for that is Africa’s close proximity to Seychelles, and Tanzania and Kenya are only about two hours by flight to the Seychelles. Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways both flies daily to the Seychelles.
He added that, Africans can discover the unique attractions of Seychelles from the history of the island to its food and music. Mr. Germain observed that, the island is also a very popular wedding & honeymoon destination and encouraged Africans to come and explore the archipelago’s unique natural beauty.
Mr. Germain mentioned that the Seychelles has accommodation for all budget travelers, from Guesthouses at USD: 60 per night to the 3, 4 & 5 star properties
On how the island have been able to stand the test of time with regards to sustainable tourism, he said, the government knowing how fragile the island is have put in place mechanisms and actions which seeks to educate and inculcate the tenets of sustainable tourism especially in the younger/new generation. Public education has contributed significantly towards this.
As a tourism economy, its importance cannot be over emphasized. tourism contribute 20% towards the country’s GDP. Top source markets are Germany, France, Russia, Great Britain, Middle East.
