With the return of Qatar Airways flights to Seychelles last December, the airline’s office based in the Netherlands in collaboration with the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) recently organized a familiarization visit to the islands for several of the market’s top tour operators.
The trip was from March 23-26 and presented the tour operators with a first-hand experience of the destination as they visited the main islands and got acquainted with the different hotels.
The tour operators are already working with the two biggest destination management companies in Seychelles – Mason’s Travel and Creole Travel Services – both of which offered their services throughout the trip with transfers and guided tours.
During the short four-day visit, the group was accompanied by STB’s senior marketing executive based in Paris, as well a representative from Qatar Airways in the Netherlands.
Besides Mahe, Praslin, and La Digue, the group also visited Silhouette island.
From Mahe, the group stopped in Doha for two days where visits were also organized to discover that city.
Miss Vel described the FAM trip as a very successful one and said destination knowledge is always needed for tour operators as it boosts their confidence when selling the islands.
“The first-hand experience of the islands will help the tour operators greatly and will motivate them to sell the destination further as they have seen what it has to offer, and they would be in a better position to recommend it to their clients,” she said.