Posted by Seychelles.com on Friday, 15 December 2006
The Seychelles islands have unveiled a new tourism brand to showcase the country’s spectacular beauty and diversity, in addition to what many consider to be the most beautiful beaches in the world.
The new brand features a new colourful logo – a composite of some of Seychelles’ famous icons – along with the slogan “another world” to convey the uniqueness of Seychelles, an archipelago of some 115 granite and coral islands spread across the Indian Ocean.
“Seychelles has the most beautiful beaches in the world, and perhaps because of that we are often pegged as only a tropical beach destination,” said Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, the chairman and CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB). “This new brand truly reflects the diversity of Seychelles as the world’s only mid-ocean granitic islands and the range of great attractions and activities to see and experience here.”
The new brand concept will feature full-colour ads and posters with a focus on the photography, depicting key scenes and activities that are part of the Seychelles experience, from sailing and diving to hiking through mountains and ancient mist-forests that are filled with species found nowhere else in the world.
Another change enacted with the new brand is the use of “The Seychelles Islands” in the logo as opposed to simply “Seychelles.”
“Although ‘Seychelles’ is of course the official name of the country, we felt that using ‘the Seychelles islands’ in our new campaign would be a great educational tool for our audiences, to reflect the reality that we have over 100 different and diverse islands,” said Mr Lalanne.
The unveiling of the new brand follows a nine-month process of research, consultation and planning by STB and its Edinburgh-based brand consultant The Union. The process included several workshops with hoteliers and other tourism stakeholders in Seychelles, to ensure as wide a scope as possible for input and ideas.
“Tourism is a rapidly changing industry in a global and competitive market, and Seychelles was aware that it had to react to these forces or risk falling behind,” said The Union’s chairman Ian McAteer, who is also a Seychellois. “In developing this brand with STB, we knew that we had to find a way to capture what makes our islands unique, and express that to both the existing and up and coming markets through constantly evolving media like the internet.”
The December 15 unveiling was held at the Plantation Resort and Casino, in the presence of the Vice President of Seychelles, Joseph Belmont, and large crowd of tourism stakeholders and distinguished guests.
A complete roll-out of new materials will coincide with the official international launch of the brand in March at the ITB travel fair in Germany.
“I’m excited about this new direction for Seychelles,” said Francis Mondon, the chairman of the Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism Association. “It was time to re-fresh the image of Seychelles in the context of the global travel trade, and I think this new branding will be a great help for the tourism trade in drawing more visitors to our shores.”
Since 2000, Seychelles had largely been marketed under a black and white campaign using the slogan “as pure as it gets.”
