Procedures for a restart of tourism in the Seychelles
PRIVATE JETS TO BE ALLOWED IN FIRST WHILE RESORTS HAVE TO UNDERGO CERTIFICATION
Tourists able to afford travel by private jet will be the first to be allowed back into the Seychelles, after the international airport reopens next week. A key requirement is that visitors must produce a negative #COVID19 certification from their home country, not older than 48 hours prior to travel, but will be tested again upon arrival in the Seychelles. Thermal screening scanners have been installed to establish any increased body temperature of visitors.
From the airport to their respective resorts will visitors then be transported in a controlled format, details of which are awaited for publication. Guests will also not be allowed to leave their resorts for excursions across the island or to other islands on the archipelago until further notice, taking one of the key attractions of the Seychelles away and reducing vacations to sun and sand at the booked resort only.
Resorts in turn will have to undergo a special safety certification before being allowed to reopen, to meet a series of requirements aimed to stop virus transmission.
Public Health Commissioner Jude Gedeon was quoted to have stated: ‘Visitors will not be allowed to leave their resorts. Furthermore, it will be necessary for them to do a COVID test 48 hours before taking a flight to Seychelles. There would be a rapid test system in place at the airport as well that would allow the visitors to be tested again before commuting to their resorts. The commuting to their resorts will also be in a controlled manner‘.
Passenger flights from the main tourism source markets in Europe and the Middle East, given the continued qualified lockdown and travel restrictions in place in France, Germany, Italy and the Gulf region, are not expected to resume until July or even August, leaving island destinations like the Seychelles, which can only be reached by air – cruise ships have been banned until the end of 2021 – beyond the reach of most holiday makers, unless they can afford to travel on their own or a hired private jet.
Air Seychelles last weekend operated their first repatriation flight from Sri Lanka and India and the passengers are presently under institutional quarantine and supervision until they are medically cleared.
