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Seychelles Tourism Board CEO congratulated for closing 2014 with a plus in visitor arrivals
Almasalla, ATP News- Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture has congratulated Sherin Naiken, the CEO of the island’s Tourism Board after receiving the official visitor arrival statistics for December and for 2014 from Laura Ahtime, the CEO of the Seychelles National Bureau of Statistics.
Seychelles tourism faced challenging times when its main core market of Europe suffered from economic hard times. Traditionally France was the main source market for Seychelles but in 2014 they were overtaken by Germany. It must be noted that Germany is the only European Country served with a direct non-stop air service, and this has ensured that Seychelles remained visible in all campaigns by Condor Airline in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The Seychelles National Bureau of Statistics has now confirmed that a total of 22,004 visitors arrived in Seychelles in December 2014. This represented an increase of 7% compared to December 2013 (20,577) and altogether, Seychelles received 232,667 visitors in 2014 (January-December) and this was 1% above the total for 2013 (230,272).
Minister Alain St.Ange said in a message to CEO Sherin Naiken "You have again delivered for Seychelles. You have the mission to market Seychelles and as you travel to our key source markets promoting our islands many do not appreciate the intensity of this work. I want to put on record my appreciation of your hard work and also congratulate you and our team for managing to end the year with a plus one over 2013." said Minister St.Ange.
Sherin Naiken and her Team at the Tourism Board have the mandate to market seychelles and they undertake a lot of trips to the key tourism source markets of Seychelles. The Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture said that the CEO of the Tourism Board is like a fisherman who will never bring fish to the fish market if she is not out on a boat fishing on a fishing bank.
"If a fisherman sits on his or her verandah or in an office, they will never be selling fish on the market. This is the same for the CEO of the Tourism Board. If they are not in the key tourism source markets promoting Seychelles and keeping the islands visible, our tourism operators will be suffering with drop in visitor arrival numbers. When the Tourism Board keeps seychelles visible they are ensuring that our islands remain relevant as a tourism destination" the seychelles Minister said.
Attached is an analysis/breakdown of arrivals by geographic region and the top 10 markets for 2014.