Seychelles has reached another important milestone in its tourism industry with the arrival of over 258,000 visitors from January to-date, exceeding the target set this year, two months ahead of the year’s end.
At the beginning of the year, the Tourism Department had set their planned growth between 218,000 and 258,000 visitors, with the latter being the best-case scenario and the former being the worst-case.
The achievement is the result of the continuous efforts of the tourism industry’s local and international partners, the principal secretary of Tourism, Mrs Sherin Francis, has said.
“With these 258,000 visitors, we have now attained 89% of the 2019 arrival numbers, exceeding our expectations. In our January predictions, we had considered that the ‘Revenge Travel’ trend, which started in 2021, would keep our visitors’ arrival numbers high for the year. With other external factors, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, and inflation in Europe, we feared that our numbers would be restricted to the January estimate,” said Mrs Francis.
Looking at the current trend and momentum, the Department predicts that the country may receive 330,000 visitors by year-end.
“We also noted that in the last three weeks, we have been performing above the 2019 figures for weeks 38, 39 and 40. In terms of airline dynamics, we have seen the return of several airlines, and we are even receiving extra charter flights, which are all supporting the recovery of the destination,” added PS Francis.
Mrs Francis also thanked the teams from the National Bureau of Statistics, Immigration Department, and Travizory, who had actively assisted in tracking the date that the arrival numbers would surpass the overall forecast for 2022.
The 258,000th visitor arrived at the Seychelles International Airport on Saturday, 15th October. Marking the milestone with a bang, the Tourism Department hosted a special meet-and-greet at the airport. Visitors exiting the arrival terminal were welcomed by the principal secretary for Tourism, Mrs Francis, and staff of the department, while a traditional band animated the afternoon with cultural performances.
Visitors were also encouraged to participate in an Instagram contest as they exited the terminal, which will increase the destination’s visibility on social media while the milestone is being commemorated.
In August, Seychelles surpassed the number of visitors arriving in 2021, which made it even more evident that the destination was well on its path to achieving this important feat.
