Italians, such as these in Perugia, have opted to spend their holidays at home

A heavyweight Seychelles delegation returned this week from the main Italian travel fair, BIT, with hopes for a halt to the downward trend in Italian visitor arrivals.

Senior representatives from Air Seychelles, STMA, 12 local hotels and all of the destination management companies (DMCs), were present at the Borsa Internazionale del Tourismo (BIT), where they heard travel agents forecast a return to stability of Italian visitor figures to Seychelles.

The STMA's Jenny Harris-Beggs said, "Despite the downward trend of visitor arrivals from Italy this year, the tour operators were optimistic that Seychelles should enjoy a more stable response in the coming months."

Mrs Harris-Beggs acknowledged, however, that stabilising visitor arrivals at their present level means operating at a figure lower than that of 2003, which in turn was lower than in 2002.

"We hope the stability will come back in and we will be able to arrest this down turn." she added.

According to STMA information, regional competitors have cut into Seychelles' Italian market share due to, "competitive package prices on offer, air frequency, aggressive consumer advertising campaigns and value-added booking incentives."

Coupled with increased regional competition has been a general down turn in Italian overseas travel, which Mrs Harris-Beggs suggested was due to the state of the Italian economy, the perceived reluctance of Italians to travel during times of major international conflict and an increase in the number of Italians holidaying within their national borders.

The 24th BIT took place in Milan from February 14-17 and Mrs Harris-Beggs said that aim of Seychelles' delegates was to, "get a feel of the market, see why we had such a down turn, find out what the problems are, speak to the operators and see how we can address the problems."

In dealing with the Italian slump Mrs Harris-Beggs said that STMA is to launch a new consumer brochure in April, which will be followed by an intensive travel agents workshop programme in April and May. She also pointed out that no extra funds would be allocated to STMA's Italian budget in order to undertake the campaign.

The first two days of the four day event were open to the public and STMA's Amia Jovanovic-Desir said that the Seychelles stand and information were well received, especially by couples exploring the possibility of getting married over seas.

The BIT arena was divided into four pavilions, dedicated to Europe, Mediterranean Europe and the Middle East, the Americas and Africa-Asia-Pacific, and attracted an estimated 130,000 visitors.

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