As one of the most important professional travel fairs in Northern China, COTTM has drawn the attention of people in the tourism industry worldwide.
The China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market (COTTM) is an annual event that is held in Beijing, the capital of China. This year the fair was being held at the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre from April 9-11, 2013.
The Seychelles islands was showcased in a 34.5 sqm stand and had a panoramic backdrop of Anse Victorin depicting the islands’ turquoise blue sea, granite boulders, and white sandy beaches.
This three-day event is targeted at only trades and is a perfect platform to strengthen the existing business relationship and learn more about this booming outbound tourism market.
Headed by the Chinese Manager of the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) based in China, Mr. Jean-Luc Lai-Lam, the delegation was also comprised of the Senior Marketing Executive in Beijing, Mr. Li Huanhuan, and the Marketing Executive based in Shanghai, Mr. Ethan Chen.
Alongside the STB team were the following local trade partners: Creole Travel Services, Rose Sham, Business Development Manager, [e-mail védett] ; 7 South, Ms. Doris Coopoosamy, Products & Contacting Manager, [e-mail védett] ; Qi Lanqiu, Asian Representative, [e-mail védett] ; Mason’s Travel (pty) Ltd.; Hong Yan Li- Beijing representative [e-mail védett] ; Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort & Casio, Ms. Johnette Labiche, Area Director, Sales & Marketing, [e-mail védett] ; and Coral Strand Hotel, Ms. Evgenia Boyankova, Cluster Director of Sales and Marketing, [e-mail védett] .
The Seychelles stand was deemed very popular with visits from both old and new Chinese partners from the region (including those from other parts of China), which ended in many concrete discussions and corporations.
“After nearly two years of promotional work in Beijing, you can see that Beijing’s’ outbound tourism market for Seychelles is steadily increasing. Local people are now more familiar with Seychelles and many of them are putting Seychelles in their yearly travel plans. More than ever, we are getting more specific cooperation between Seychelles and our Chinese counterparts,” Mr. Lai-Lam said to China Network TV (CNTV).
Apart from CNTV, Radio FM 87.6 and Travel Agency Magazine, Mr. Li Huanhuan also gave interviews with Beijing TV and huanqiu.com (2 of the media present in Seychelles during the carnival).
“Also note that during the Chinese Spring Festival in February, we had more than 1,200 Chinese tourists that visited Seychelles and conservatively speaking, that puts us on track for our target for this year,” added by Jean-Luc Lai-Lam.
“Response to the increasing number of Chinese visitors, Seychelles government has taken some measures to better greet the Chinese visitors. Particularly for the accommodation, the current situation today shows that there are 413 accommodation establishments in operation in Seychelles with a total of 4,239 rooms or 8,478 beds which has gradually increased compared to 2 years ago. Some hotel establishments have even gone to the extent of converting an existing restaurant to offer Asian cuisine to its clients. The Seychelles Tourism Board and its partners are committed to ensure that there is a continual growth on this market whilst attending to the needs of the clients as well,” commented Elsia Grandcourt, Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Tourism Board.
Seychelle - szigetek a Nemzetközi Turisztikai Partnerek Koalíciója (ICTP).
