The leading European tourist markets are to be targeted with the lion's share of STMA's recent additional budget allocation of $150,000.

The extra $150,000 government cash injection was announced on September 30 and Seychelles Tourism Marketing Authority CEO, Francis Savy has now said that approximately 25,000 Euros will be spent in each of the four leading markets of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy, with smaller amounts being aimed at secondary markets.

The money will be used for what Mr Savy called, "joint tactical advertising consumer-led marketing campaigns."

In order to maximise the finances available, STMA has joined forces with Air Seychelles and a Tour Operator partner, who have both supplied matched funding, increasing the budget spend to approximately 350,000 Euros.

The campaigns to be financed include tactical broadsheet and glossy adverts with lead-in prices, which are then supported and backed up by direct mailing campaigns to tour operator's high potential databases.

Additional campaigns will feature inserts in specific tourism publications with high, subscription based, circulations and others focused on niche market segments, backed up by trade incentives and internet exposure.

All of the activities to be undertaken are said by STMA to have a strong emphasis on boosting consumer awareness and improving market share in the long term.

Once a quantitative assessment of the campaign has been carried out, STMA is proposing a continuation of the activities.

STMA's stated objective of the joint tactical advertising campaign is to "arrest the tourism downtrend and increase forward bookings."

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