They come from Thompsons Holidays, which has offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town and is one of the major travel agencies that sell Seychelles in the South African market.

During their stay in Seychelles, the group have visited several cultural sites and those hotels on Mahe, Praslin and La Digue that the agency works with.

The agents also took part in a one-day workshop yesterday at the Ephelia Resort, Port Launay, under the Thompsons Holidays “university” concept.

Thompsons hosts these training sessions in several travel destinations for a minimum of 25 travel agents as part of its promotion and education programme.

It teamed up with Air Seychelles and the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) to organise the workshop so the travel agents could join company and hotel representatives to learn all about the destination.

Also present at the event were Thompsons Holidays’ general manager product development Joanne Adolphe and its managing director in Mauritius, Christian Lefevre.

Others included Seychelles’ tourism director for Africa and the Americas David Germain, managing director of Select-Seychelles Freddy Karkaria and Air Seychelles’ general manager in South Africa Deon Freemantle.

Addressing those present, Mrs Adolphe said the agency will be aggressive when it comes to marketing Seychelles. Adverts have already been placed in newspapers, and a total of 600,000 South African rand will be spent to market and advertise Seychelles over the next six months.

She said the firm’s university concept started in Mauritius and its aim is to have a minimum of 12 around the world.

Mr Germain gave a presentation with information on the Seychelles islands, their unique features and selling points used to market the destination.

He said it is important to see what Seychelles can offer, as it is not only about beaches but a whole holiday experience.
Mr Germain said the tourism trade in Seychelles has shown a great deal of interest in South Africa, with the short travelling time a bonus for visitors.

In an interview, Mr Karkaria said the partnership with Thompsons Holidays is a recent one, and it is a privilege to represent this international company.

“Thompsons Holidays recognises that South Africa is a market where we can get more visitors to Seychelles,” he said.
He said this is encouraging, especially now that the Affordable Seychelles campaign has been launched with the support of the STB and Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism Association.

Mrs Adolphe said the agency takes its travel agents to destinations that Thompsons specialises in, so they can experience the ambiance and learn at first hand about the properties, people, culture and heritage of these countries.

The company first brought its university concept here in 2008, with 18 travel agents, but an upturn in visitors was short-lived because of the global financial crisis.

It has now refocused on Seychelles as success in Mauritius and in Thailand over the past two years has shown that South Africans are looking towards beach holidays.

Seychelles has been identified as a fantastic and easy beach destination, Mrs Adolphe said.

With the current group of travel agents coming from all around South Africa, it is expected that a minimum of 100 bookings will result.

Air Seychelles provides the only direct air link between the two countries, and flights are scheduled twice a week. To cope with peak season demands, the airline will add extra flights when it can.