A new record year for the three German-speaking countries was no reason for STB’s Frankfurt office to rest on their laurels. With their sights firmly set on a promising 2017 travel season, they launched the New Year with a triple assault in all three countries, celebrating the opening of new nonstop flights from Germany and Austria and presenting the Seychelles as partner country at the debut of a freshly revamped travel show in Switzerland.
In the wake of a spectacular show-stopping presentation of the 2016 CMT fair in Stuttgart, the Seychelles returned in 2017 to pick up where they left off last year. With 235,000 visitors and 2,052 exhibitors, the traditional opening fair of the tourism year and the world’s largest consumer fair for tourism and recreation again reported an excellent turnout. The fairgrounds were fully booked and very crowded over the entire nine-day run, which was bookended, as always, by two weekends. As a survey showed, about a quarter of the visitors had even traveled more than 100 km to this fair in the affluent Southwest of Germany. An astounding 95% of the visitors indicated their intention to return next year (when CMT will be celebrating their 50th anniversary), and the exhibitors gave the visitors high ratings as well, praising them for being well informed and prepared. The Seychelles, who have been attending the fair for many years, proved as popular as always. The Seychelles Tourism Board was joined at their stand by trade partners SeyVillas and VPM Bestsail.
While CMT was still underway, it was time for a short (250 km) hop south across the border to St. Gallen in the northeastern part of Switzerland, close to borders with Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein. The Grenzenlos (“borderless”) tourism fair was held here for the first time under this new name and with a brand-new concept. It ran for three days on the third weekend in January, attracting 31,000 visitors and 414 exhibitors to its 27,000 square-meter fairgrounds and five exhibition halls. One of the main attractions was certainly the fact that it featured the Seychelles as „Gastland“ (“guest country”). The Seychelles not only showed up with their impressive stand, which featured a large display case with cocos de mer, but also provided visitors with lively entertainment by Latroup Nasyonal and a taste of the Seychelles’ equally vivid colors and artistry, presented by renowned painter Egbert Marday.
STB was joined at the stand (in hall 3.1) by representatives of five trade partners: Hilton Seychelles (Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort & Spa, Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort & Spa, Doubletree by Hilton Allamanda Resort & Spa), JA Resorts & Hotels, Le Duc de Praslin/La Digue Island Lodge/Valmer Resort, Let’s go Tours, and VPM Bestsail.
