COMBINING CULTURES- INDIA SEMINAR IN SEYCHELLES
Seychelles Tourist Office, India successfully executes seminar on Indian Market in Seychelles
(Representatives of The Seychelles Tourism Board and the seminar speakers)
Mumbai, 12th July 2017: Seychelles witnessed a one of its kind seminar on the 30th of June 2017, conducted by Seychelles Tourist Office, India for the local hoteliers, DMCs, tourism board head office and other establishments. The seminar aimed at defining the Indian market and presenting its nitigrities to the local travel trade fraternity of Seychelles.
The event witnessed powerful speeches on the cultural and behavioural differences between the two countries by three eminent speakers from India -
· Mr. Ashutosh Mehere, COO Alliances, Cox & Kings, India
· Mr. Jai Bujhwala, founder, Holidays Box
· Mr. Parthip Thyagarajan, founder, WeddingSutra.com
(Seminar speakers)
The opening remarks were given by Mrs. Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board who expressed her happiness at hosting the event and at the opportunity to get a detailed understanding of a source market. Ms. Lubaina Sheerazi, COO, Blue Square Consultants, Seychelles Tourist officeIndia, then explained the cultural diversity and uniqueness of the Indian market setting stage for the speakers. Ms. Sabrina Agathine, Marketing Director, Air Seychelles, the national carrier of Seychelles added a few words of appreciation and acknowledged the continuous support from the India office. The speakers then took over the podium, pointing out their sincere observations and suggesting methods to fill gaps between expectations and deliverables for both countries.
Highlights of the seminar-
Mr. Jai Bhujwala explained the journey from Chicken Tikka to Takamaka and how the travel trade and tourists function in India. His company-Holidays Box specialises in tourism to Seychelles and hence he could shed light upon the various types of tourists, their behaviours and expectations and how can they be catered differently.
Mr.Parthip Tyagarajan, founder of Weddingsutra.com, an online portal for information on all high-end wedding requirements and planning and execution of the same, showcased the uniqueness of the Indian wedding industry to locals of Seychelles. He pointed out the growth and changes of this segment over the years and presented the various countries which have successfully understood the potential of this segment and have proceeded to tap the same. He explained the huge window of opportunity in this budding wedding segment of India.
Mr. Ashutosh Mehre, a veteran in the travel industry shared his experience over the years and covered behaviours of the travel trade fraternity of India. He emphasised on the changes one has seen over the years in both in-bound and out-bound tourism from India. He explained the measures one would need to take to bridge the gap between expectations and results. The measures that need to be adopted by any market to tap the Indian market and stand out amongst the many countries in India.
This seminar proved highly beneficial for the locals of Seychelles who in turn had many questions and increased interest in catering to the India market differently in order to maximise results.
(India seminar participants-private sector with speakers and STB representatives)
Commenting on the seminar, Mrs. Sherin Francis said, ‘The seminar was one of its kind and highly informative for all our private sector partners. It created awareness about the diversity of India and answered many questions about the trade and tourist behaviour. It certainly created a high inquisitiveness about the market among the locals which is a great sign for developing further relations with the Indian market.’
‘We were very happy with the reception of the seminar and glad that our agenda of bringing out the differences between any other market and India for Seychelles had been met. The speakers gave some highly thought provoking inputs which will certainly better equip the private sector to cater differently to the Indian audience and allow us to further expand our vision for the destination’ said Ms. Lubaina Sheerazi , COO, Blue Square consultants, Seychelles Tourist office India.
The seminar was well received and highly appreciated. It opened doors for better future connections between the Indian travel trade fraternity and the tourism sector of Seychelles. It was a great success in terms of meeting the target set for the activity.