Tourism Seychelles has wrapped up a highly successful Middle East Mega Familiarisation Trip, held from October 25th to 28th, 2025, welcoming 30 top travel professionals from across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman. The initiative aimed to deepen trade relations and inspire stronger destination promotion across one of Seychelles\u2019 fastest-growing tourism markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The four-day trip, led by Mr Ahmed Fathallah, Tourism Seychelles\u2019 representative in the GCC, formed part of the organisation\u2019s ongoing strategy to enhance destination awareness and expand sales potential within the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To kick off the visit, Tourism Seychelles hosted a networking and welcome evening at Avani+ Resort, bringing together local trade partners in a relaxed, festive atmosphere. Coinciding with the Creole Festival, the event offered the perfect cultural immersion, featuring a traditional Creole buffet, dance performances, and vibrant island music celebrating Seychelles\u2019 rich heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing guests during the evening, Mrs Sherin Francis, Principal Secretary for Tourism, highlighted the importance of such initiatives in fostering meaningful global partnerships.
\n\u201cWe are delighted to welcome our valued travel partners from the GCC region to experience Seychelles firsthand. This mega FAM trip is an important opportunity to showcase our islands while strengthening the relationships that continues to drive tourism to our shores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Travel trade professionals remains highly influential in shaping travellers\u2019 choices \u2014 particularly in this part of the world \u2014 and their first-hand experience of Seychelles will be invaluable in inspiring more visitors to discover our islands. The GCC is a key market for us, and we deeply value the strong partnerships that continues to support our tourism growth and visibility in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout their stay, the group explored Mah\u00e9\u2019s top attractions, including a reef safari excursion, visits to Victoria\u2019s markets and cultural landmarks, and site inspections at some of Seychelles\u2019 most distinguished properties\u2014among them Avani+, Savoy Seychelles Resort & Spa, Canopy by Hilton, Kempinski Seychelles Resort, Constance Ephelia, STORY Seychelles, L\u2019Escale Resort Marina & Spa, and the newly opened Garden Hills Hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reflecting on the initiative, Mr Ahmed Fathallah emphasised that the Mega Fam Trip was crafted to give travel professionals an authentic, firsthand perspective of the destination.
\n\u201cSeeing is believing, and this trip allows our partners to experience the diversity Seychelles offers,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom luxury resorts to family-friendly stays and boutique hideaways, Seychelles caters to every traveller profile. I am confident our partners will return home inspired and ready to promote the islands with renewed enthusiasm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mega Fam Trip reaffirms Tourism Seychelles\u2019 ongoing commitment to strengthening its footprint in the GCC region and positioning Seychelles as a versatile, culturally rich, and accessible destination for travellers from all walks of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tourism Seychelles has wrapped up a highly successful Middle East Mega Familiarisation Trip, held from October 25th to 28th, 2025, welcoming 30 top travel professionals from across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman. The initiative aimed to deepen trade relations and inspire stronger destination promotion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}