Kahini Chakraborty – Mumbai
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Lubaina Sheerazi
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Seychelles Tourism Board has forayed into the Indian market and has appointed Mumbai-based Blue Square Consultants as their India representative. The tourism board is initially focusing on targeting honeymooners, luxury, adventure and experiential travellers from India. Talking to Express TravelWorld, Lubaina Sheerazi, head, Blue Square Consultants, Seychelles Tourist Office, India said, “India is turning into a strong outbound market in the world and is also an emerging source market for us. We are excited to have entered this dynamic market and welcome Indians to Seychelles islands. Seychelles islands offers such diversity – not only in the islands themselves but also in their flora, fauna, ethnicity, architecture, cuisine, traditions and activities. Our current focus is increasing awareness and understanding about the destination among trade, media and eventually the end customer.”
“Our main objective now is to get the trade allied and on board which we will be doing through conducting road shows, destination trainings, participating in trade fairs and organizing FAM trips. We are also working at facilitating familiarisation between the Indian travel trade and the private sector in Seychelles. We are also supporting the trade to design market sensitive products and to push Seychelles product to potential customers,” she informed. Elaborating on the marketing strategies, she added, “In tandem with Seychelles Tourism Board global strategy we will invest lot of efforts in proactive engagement with the media.”
In terms of flight connectivity, she said, “Currently Emirates, Etihad Airways and SriLankan Airlines connect India to the Seychelles islands via Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Colombo respectively. As Seychelles islands become more popular in India we are confident that there will be multiple options to fly to the country.”
