Friday, September 12, 2009: A high-powered delegation from the Seychelles Tourism Board is in the country on a four-day official tour in a bid to promote travel to the tropical island nation.

The objective of the campaign is to boost visitor arrivals to Seychelles as a major tourist destination of choice.

Kenya Airways is supporting the campaign, by participating in a number of joint marketing activities with Seychelles Tourism Board, including agency tour promotions and media familiarization tours.

The airline – The Pride of Africa – flies to Seychelles every day.

“We are working jointly with Seychelles Tourism Board to attract visitors to Seychelles and vice versa. We are running a number of campaigns around the world and we believe these initiatives will make significant contribution to visitor inflows,” Kenya Airways Commercial Director Mr Mohan Chandra said.

He said the tour and the exhibition will make a major contribution to the growth of Kenya and Seychelles as twin tourist destinations.

The Seychelles Director of Tourism Marketing, Alain St. Ange is accompanied by Sharon Rosalie, the Seychelles Tourism’s Manager for Africa. The delegation is in the country on a four-day tour from September 10 to 13, 2009.

The tourist body will work with Tour Operators and Travel Agents to re-launch their tropical islands and to push forward the idea of “Twin Centre” holidays between the two African states.

The Seychelles Director of Tourism believes that Seychelles remains an ideal destination for Kenyans looking for a short haul holiday and the island nation is working with Kenya in pushing the Twin Centre Holidays for a Kenya Safari and a Seychelles Beach Holiday.

“This is why I am coming to Kenya with my Manager responsible for the Africa Market, Sharon Rosalie, to get such promotion going before we all leave for the French Tourism Trade Fair, Top Resa later this month,” said St.Ange.

Early this year, Kenya Airways organized a familiarization tour for over 150 tour operators, travel agents and journalists from across Africa. The initiative was geared towards increasing the inflow of tourists from non-traditional source markets to Kenya.