Travel agents rave about Seychelles experience

FRANKFURT/MAIN, Germany – “And the winners are …” About 500 German-speaking travel agents were hoping to win a trip to the Seychelles as a reward for successfully completing the Seychelles eLear

FRANKFURT/MAIN, Germany – “And the winners are …” About 500 German-speaking travel agents were hoping to win a trip to the Seychelles as a reward for successfully completing the Seychelles eLearning program currently online throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — but in the end, only 8 of them were lucky enough to win the trip. They visited the Seychelles between the 5th and 10th of December and were overwhelmed by what they saw: “Unbelievable – a dream come true!” one of the participants posted on Facebook a day after her return.

The group of 6 women and 2 men had gathered from all parts of the German-speaking market, where the Seychelles Online Training has been running with enormous success since March: 1travel agent arrived from Austria, 2 from Switzerland, and the remaining 5 from different regions in Germany.

The winners traveled to the Seychelles from Paris, courtesy of Air Seychelles. They were welcomed on Mahé by Edith Hunzinger, Regional Manager of the Seychelles Tourist Office in Frankfurt, and transferred to Praslin, where they stayed at the Castello Beach Hotel and the Coco de Mer Hotel. Apart from visiting the local sights, hotels, guesthouses, and smaller and larger self-catering apartments, they made a day trip to La Digue, before returning to Mahé. A sightseeing tour took them around the main island, and they spent the remaining nights at the Beachcomber Sainte Anne Resort & Spa and at the Constance Éphelia Resort. Silhouette Cruises treated them to a sunset cruise aboard the SV Sea Shell on their last evening. Apart from the airline and the hotels, sponsors included the Paradise Sun Hotel for a luncheon and Creole Travel Services, and Mason’s Travel and Select Seychelles, who provided transfers to the group.

The training program was developed by the Seychelles Tourist Office in Germany in cooperation with trade partners in the Seychelles and in Europe, including hotels, airlines, tour operators, and service providers. It was launched at the ITB travel fair in Berlin in early March and has been popular with the travel community ever since. The recent boost in visitors from the German-speaking countries is partly attributed to the success of the eLearning program, which has already been confirmed by actual and additional partners until 2013.

Alain St.Ange, the CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board, said, as he congratulated the winners for 2011, that Seychelles remains committed to the front line team – the one who meets the holiday makers looking for their dream holiday. “Seychelles is known to be the ultimate in the dream destination category, but to get the message passed on to the holiday makers, we need to ensure that the front line team at every tour operator or travel agent are always well trained in selling Seychelles. This is why we have invested in our eLearning program and this is why we shall continue to work along these same lines in 2012,” Alain St.Ange said.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...