Seychelles draws nearer to its European visitors |06 October 2020
Edelweiss Air has so far disembarked some 367 visitors in the last two weeks (Photo source: STB News Bureau)
Seychelles is now more accessible to European visitors since Sunday, September 27, 2020, with the return of direct flights from Europe to Seychelles.
The Swiss airline, Edelweiss Air, is the first European direct commercial flight to land at the Seychelles International Airport of Pointe Larue since the destination has reopened for tourism in August 2020.
Edelweiss Air, the only European airline serving the destination currently departing from Zurich and scheduled for a weekly Sunday flight, has so far disembarked some 367 visitors in the last two weeks.
In the spirit of keeping the destination closer to its European market, Seychelles has made since October 1, 2020 special provision to remain accessible for visitors from seven markets, among which six are its European markets.
Which means that should the Covid-19 pandemic deteriorate in those markets, instead of not being permitted to travel to Seychelles, these countries will move to a category 2 of being permitted and additional measures will be applied.
The additional measures include a 48-hour or less negative PCR Covid-19 test and staying at a hotel permitted for category two countries for the first five days of the stay, whereby movement will be restricted to the hotel property during that period.
For countries part of the seven markets, which still appear on the category 1 permitted list, the standard travel procedures in the new normal will apply.
The Seychelles Tourism Board’s chief executive, Sherin Francis, emphasised how the destination is striving to remain safe and accessible for visitors.
“This quarter has started fairly well for the destination. Although with a bit of restriction, Seychelles will be able to receive visitors from its prime market as of October 1, 2020, and the weekly flight from Zurich is one great advantage for European visitors planning to visit our islands as well. Not mentioning that two of our prime market countries, namely, Germany and UK, has exempted Seychelles from their non-essential travel lists,” said Mrs Francis.
The STB’s chief executive further mentioned the STB digital campaign ‘Experience Seychelles; our home, your sanctuary’, which aims to encourage people to travel to the destination combined with the publicity efforts made by the various offices across the world to remain visible to our audience.
Since its reopening to commercial flights in August 2020, Seychelles has been welcoming regular flights from three airlines including Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.
The local authorities and the local tourism business owners are operating with extreme caution to ensure that the destination remains a safe place for visitors.
Press release from the STB News Bureau