Condor, a German charter airline, resumed its non-stop flights linking the Seychelles islands to Frankfurt on Saturday when its Boeing 767/300 touched down at the island’s international airport.
Carrying 164 passengers, Condor touched down at 6.20 am and was welcomed with the customary water canon salute.
The return of the airline to the island nation in the western Indian Ocean is expected to give a much needed boost to the German market.
The director general for destination marketing in the tourism department, Bernadette Willemin, said that “this is a great step in our recovery especially as the German market is one of the best performing source markets for Seychelles. The resumption of the flights comes at a right time as well as the German government eases travel requirements for German nationals and residents travelling to Seychelles.”
Condor joins 12 other airlines linking Seychelles to the rest of the world and contributing to the recovery of the island nation’s tourism industry, the top pillar of its economy.
“It definitely gives us great pleasure to see another airline partner back on our shores. A direct flight from a European city is always an added value for the destination,” Willemin said.
On his side, Ralf Teckentrup, chief executive of Condor, expressed his confidence in the destination.
“The archipelago delights with unique beaches, coral reefs and rainforests and we are very much looking forward to flying our guests on holiday after such a long period of wanderlust. We have been working very successfully with the Tourism Seychelles for a long time to enable our guests to enjoy their dream holiday,” he said.
Willemin said that Tourism Seychelles will be working with airlines, travel industry partners, and media, and that it will step up its consumer campaigns to win back visitors from its key source markets.
“Our efforts are now concentrated on getting back our visitors from Germany and neighbouring countries. With the arrival of Condor, we are eagerly anticipating a boost in visitor arrival numbers,” she said.
Germany was the leading source market for Seychelles in 2019, when the destination recorded 72,509 visitor arrivals, almost a quarter of whom travelled on Condor. For this year, 8,080 visitors have visited Seychelles in the first nine months.
AUTHOR: Seychelles News Agency
