With the introduction of three weekly flights by Air Seychelles to Hong Kong this year, China is set to become an increasingly important secondary tourism market for Seychelles.

This is the view expressed by Jean-Luc Lai Lam, marketing manager for China at last week's mid-year review of tourism performances, held at Le Méridien Barbarons hotel.

By the second week of June 2013, three thousand and thirty-three (3033) Chinese visitors had arrived in Seychelles, a hike of 67% over the same period last year.

According to Mr Lai Lam, though the Maldives are still the beach destination receiving the lion's share of Chinese visitors, mainly because it is nearer to the Asian mainland, Seychelles is becoming increasingly well-known on the Chinese market, notably Hong Kong and Beijing. Other similar competitors are Mauritius and Phuket in Thailand.

Mr Lai Lam noted that the Seychelles Tourism Board was recently involved in the ITE tourism fair in Hong Kong and the Beijing international expo, and also talked about the recent production of a promotional video in Chinese as an important marketing tool.

He also said that since this year Seychelles has received some 40 pages of coverage in the Chinese media, including one cover story.

He said in 2013, the number of Chinese vacationers travelling abroad is expected to increase to 100 million from 83 million last year. As such, China is overtaking the USA and Germany as market sources for world tourism. The average spending per Chinese vacationer is US $3,000.

Mr Lai Lam added that 80% of Chinese travelling abroad, seek information prior to travelling.
He noted that criticisms received so far from Chinese holidaymakers in Seychelles include the lack of shopping, nightlife, casinos and Chinese culture.

It was also noted at the mid-year review that though Chinese holidaymakers are willing to try foreign cuisine, they also regard the availability of their own culinary dishes as important.

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