Seychelles: Industry Players and Government optimistic of accelerated tourism recovery in 2022
The Seychelles Island, a tourism-dependent economy in the Indian ocean is hopeful of great recovery of the Tourism sector in 2022.
The public sector led by the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Foreign affairs with the collaborative efforts of the vibrant private sector is encouraged by the booking trend and measures put in place to see tourism bouncing back in style.
In a recent trip of VoyagesAfriq to the paradise island to access the readiness and measures put in place to give travellers confidence to travel to the island nation, we observed how the local population have strictly observed the health and sanitary protocols.
Even before arriving at the Seychelles International Airport, a traveller is expected to complete the Seychelles Islands Travel Authorization system. The platform powered by Travisory was introduced as part of the measures to curb the spread and also reduce importation of covid-19 cases and also to make travel a seamless one.
As it moves to centralize data and information of travelers, the Seychelles civil aviation authority has introduced a new biometric data which collates information with facial technology. This according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation is a new process to centralise the information and make travelling to the island hassle-free.
The launch of the biometric corridor for health travel screening at Seychelles International Airport, becoming the second country in the world after the UAE to leverage walk-through biometrics at its borders, guarantees contactless and secure travel and an unmatched customer experience for all travelers arriving by air.
Fully integrated with the Seychelles Islands Travel Authorization system, the new “biocorridor” checks temperatures, validate if each traveler matches an approved, valid authorization through state-of-the-art facial recognition technology, and classifies travelers for handling based on pre-departure risk assessments.
The Department of Seychelles in December 2021 celebrated the surpassing of 2020 tourist arrival numbers which were key milestones in this uncharted territory the world and tourism sector particularly are going through.
Speaking to VoyagesAfriq from Botanical House, Mont Fleuri in Mahe.
the Principal Secretary at the Department of Tourism Mrs. Sherin Francis
said the archipelago island since the outbreak of the pandemic studied
the situation and offered the best possible solutions to minimize the
impact on the tourism sector.
Considering the restrictions and difficulties travellers had to endure, it was great and encouraging the milestone we achieved. This year (2021) we have managed to catch up with almost 50% of our arrivals compared to the performance we did in 2019”. We also managed to grow new emerging and secondary markets while the traditional markets were still had some curbs.
Explaining the new structures of Tourism Seychelles, Mrs. Francis said, the new changes are to consolidate the structure with one reporting command under the principal secretary. ‘’It was to look at product diversification within the tourism sector. Here we are looking to encourage investments into other areas other than accommodation activities. Leisure and the locals alike’’ she said.
Market Diversification
Asked about the need for the destination to go beyond to offer something
different other than sea sand and sun, she responded by saying the
Department had already planned to roll out the communication and project
of other exciting things one can enjoy in the Seychelles before the
pandemic hit.
‘’We are placing a lot of focus on cultural tourism, community tourism, so we will be launching this year, a series of community-based experiences that visitors can engage in when they visit Seychelles in all the various districts in Mahe, Praslin, La Digue. That would also give visitors a lot of opportunities of experiences to fill their itineraries while visiting Seychelles. ‘’
‘’Throughout the pandemic, we have diversified our markets with the likes of Russia, UAE, Israel and Eastern European countries, these are not new markets, we have been investing in these markets over a decade, but they are the most reactive markets and our Go to market’’
