The Tourism Seychelles team started the year on a high note as they took to the city of Madrid in Spain for the five-day International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR 2023.
Seychelles was represented by a delegation composed of the Tourism Seychelles Team and members of the trade partners at Feria de Madrid from January 18th to 22nd.
Director General for Destination Marketing Mrs. Bernadette Willemin was leading the Tourism Seychelles team, which consisted of the Marketing Executive for the Spain and Portugal market, Ms. Monica Gonzalez Llinas, and Ms. Jessica Giroux, a representative from Anantara Maia Seychelles Villas, who were actively marketing the Seychelles Island as a destination at the Stand 6G12.
FITUR is a meeting point for tourism professionals from around the globe and is considered to be the leading trade fair for inbound and outbound Ibero-American markets.
The importance of the travel and trade show is reflected in the growing number of exhibiting companies from participating countries, trade participants, the general public and journalists recorded each year.
Speaking after the event, the Director General for Destination Marketing, Mrs. Willemin, stated that the Iberian market fits well with Seychelles’ tourism development policy, which aims for quality versus quantity, as visitors from the region are known to be very jovial people and good spenders.
“The current outlook for the Spanish market, in particular, looks positive, and should this trend continue, it will help in further developing our business together with the support of Seychelles trade partners, which will hopefully keep growing the confidence of the Iberian travel operators and agents to continue selling the destination and increase the Iberian sales figures,” said Mrs Willemin.
It was a busy five days for the Seychelles team – the first three days were dedicated to meetings with travel trade professionals and media.
On Saturday and Sunday, the island nation’s stand was transformed into a business-to-consumer platform to welcome the general public. This provided the perfect opportunity to boost their knowledge of the destination and entice them to visit Seychelles.
The Seychelles team was also at hand to respond to their enquiries.
The Iberian Peninsula – a peninsula in southwestern Europe occupied by Spain and Portugal, had in the past produced good business for Seychelles and has the potential to do more.
In 2022, there were 6473 visitors to Seychelles from the Iberian market, with Spain contributing the lion’s share of the business.
