2021 visitor arrivals surpass 2020 figures |06 January 2022

A total of 177,504 visitors disembarked in Seychelles over the course of last year

A total of 7,056 visitors arrived in Seychelles during the last week of 2021, bringing the total number of visitors who disembarked in Seychelles over the course of the year to 177,504.

This is above the 114,858 visitors who set foot on the island paradise in 2020, the year which saw the Seychelles borders and international airport closed to the world for at least a four-month period.

Of the visitors who arrived in 2021, the majority were from the Russian Federation, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Israel, Germany and France.

It must be noted that in 2020, with the pandemic rapidly spreading globally, the majority of visitors arriving in Seychelles came from Germany, France, Israel, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) among others.

Nonetheless, both years remain significantly lower than in 2019, the benchmark year whereby a record number of visitors were recorded. A total of 384,204 visitors arrived that year, more than both 2020 and 2021 combined.

Prior to the discovery of the new Covid-19 omicron variant, experts were forecasting that global travel will pick up in 2022. With the removal of countries off the restricted list and services and products tailored to suit the needs and wants of modern-day travellers, it is hoped yet more visitors will arrive this year.

Laura Pillay