Marking another milestone for the year, and a flying start to August, the island destination officially hit the bar of 80,000 visitors, a further positive sign of recovery for the tourism industry in Seychelles.
stakeholders in Indian Ocean island destination are optimistic to see a boost in visitors from their traditional source markets in Western Europe.
During week 37 of 2021, a record 9,000 visitors was noted in the destination.
The top 6 leading markets for Seychelles for the year as of August 15, 2021, are Russia, UAE, Israel, Germany, France, and Saudi Arabia.
Counting an astonishing number of 10,413 visitors in 2 weeks, Seychelles received its 76,737th visitor for the year on August 8, 2021, and its 82,026th visitor on August 15,2021, with 96% of the arrivals, recorded after the last phase of its reopening to tourism in March 2021.
During week 37 of 2021, a record 9,000 visitors was noted in the destination, just one thousand less than the old normal pre-pandemic 2019 average.
5,289 visitors disembarked in Seychelles during the second week of August 2021 with a noticeable increase from France, with 807 visitors boosting up arrivals during the week of August 9 to 15, 2021.
As travel restarts in Europe and countries relax their travel restrictions, local stakeholders in the Indian Ocean island destination are optimistic to see a boost in the number of visitors from their traditional source markets in Western Europe.
Mrs. Sherin Francis, the Principal Secretary for Tourism, stated that the current numbers are very encouraging, as they reflect the predictions made by Tourism Seychelles at the beginning of the year to receive between 111,000 and 189,000 visitors in 2021.
“Demand for travel remains high although travelers are still faced with plenty of uncertainty. August has begun on a positive note for our destination, we have reached approximately 700 visitors per day and the numbers remain steady. Tourism Seychelles is expecting promising numbers for the months ahead. We are on track to achieve our 2021 tourism arrival targets. I am convinced that with the efforts of our marketing team and our travel partners, the second half of the year will surely be a better opportunity for Seychelles to improve its visitor arrival figures and tourism earning,” said Mrs. Francis.
The top six leading markets for Seychelles for the year as of 15 August 2021 are Russia with 17,228 visitors followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel with 14,178 and 7,086 visitors respectively, Germany with 5,122 visitors, France with 4,276 visitors and finally Saudi Arabia with 3,166 visitors.
The destination is currently being served with regular flights by nine airline partners including Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, Aeroflot, Etihad Airways, Edelweiss, Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airline, Kenya Airways as well as its national airline Air Seychelles.
