Tourism arrivals in Seychelles grew by 9% during the first half of the year
Africa
–
July 14, 2019 Courtesy of Kojo Bentum-Williams and VoyagesAfriq
Figures recorded by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed a remarkable growth in the tourism arrivals in June 2019 this year.
Indeed 25,761 visitors stamped their passports at the immigration desks at the Seychelles International Airports for a vacation on their shores.
An increase considered as exceptional for this period of the year, as it is the first time that Seychelles has ever recorded over 25,000 visitors during the month of June.
Figures presented by the NBS, confirmed that visitor’s arrivals from the beginning of the year to end of June 2019 amount to 187,108. This represents a significant increase of over 9% when compared to the same period in 2018 as the number of visitors recorded for that period amounted to 172,099 visitors.
Germany remains at the top of the best five performing markets for the month of June 2019 when 4,087 German tourists disembarked; the United Arab Emirates (UAE) follows in second position with 3,119 visitors while 2,110 visitors were recorded to have landed from the United Kingdom (UK). In fourth and fifth position are France and Italy with a number of 1,855 and 1,794 tourists, respectively.
As projected by the Strategic Planning and Market Intelligence department of the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB), the targets set- at 3 to 4%- by STB for this year will be exceeded.
Speaking at a press briefing at Botanical House yesterday, Mrs. Sherin Francis, the STB Chief Executive, mentioned her satisfaction and noted that 2019 would be another year of great performance for the industry.
“It is remarkable to see that Seychelles remains a prime destination and that for the past few years the destination has performed quite well throughout the year. June is always a slow month and we had anticipated that this year it might be the same despite our active work to bring more tourist in the country. The current figures from NBS comfort us in knowing we managed to hit a new record for the month of June,” said Mrs. Francis.
Parallel to the increase in visitor’s arrivals is the growth in the yields, according to the most recent figures from the CBS (figures referred to are for Jan-May 2019), the yields recorded from tourism related activities have shown that the destination is 6% ahead of last year. The CBS estimated that the tourism earnings from January to May 2019 were approximately 3.5 Billion SCR compared to only 3.3 Billion SCR during the same period in 2018.
In terms of travel agency bookings for the coming months, an increase in the numbers of forward bookings have been estimated.
According to the forward bookings, data received from the travel agencies it is noted that for the next 6 months of the year, for the top 5 markets a forecast 3.9% increase in regards to bookings made this time last year.
Major improvements in travel agency bookings for some key markets including France, Russia, UK, Italy and China have been noticed.
Mrs. Francis maintained that the STB will keep on increasing visibility for the Seychelles and encouraged the tourism trade to keep the great marketing work in promoting their properties and services.
