(Posted 30th September 2026)
By Shelda Commettant, Chief Press Secretary, State House, Republic of Seychelles
As the world marks Tourism Week, an island nation that lives on tourism asks whether the pandemic prepared it for conflict in the skies.
In March 2026, nothing had changed on Seychelles’ beaches. The water was as clear, the hotels as ready, the welcome as warm. Yet visitor arrivals fell 37.2% year on year, to 23,746. – The destination had not failed. The route to it had.
Around 60% of visitors reach Seychelles through connecting flights in Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, according to the International Monetary Fund. When conflict in the Middle East closed airports and airspace across the Gulf, the islands’ main corridor to the world narrowed overnight.
For a country whose economy rests on tourism, it was a familiar kind of fear.
We have been here before
Six years ago, the world closed altogether. In April 2020, Seychelles welcomed 22 visitors. The same month a year earlier had brought 37,103. Arrivals for 2020 fell by 70%. The response became a case study. Seychelles was the first African country to launch a national COVID-19 vaccination campaign, in January 2021. By March 2021, it was among the first destinations anywhere to reopen fully.
The question this Tourism Week is simple: did that crisis prepare us for this one? The honest answer is: partly.
Lesson one: speed
COVID taught Seychelles that waiting costs more than acting. This year, the response came in weeks, not months.
Air Seychelles launched temporary direct flights to Paris and Rome to protect access to Europe, by far the largest source market. Partners returned one by one: Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines in June, Aeroflot in July, with added capacity from Ethiopian Airlines.
That list tells its own story. Gulf, European, African, Russian. A country that is “a friend to all, and an enemy to none” can rebuild its air bridges from every direction.
Lesson two: value over volume
The second lesson paid off quietly. Between January and July, Seychelles received fewer visitors than in 2025, yet tourism earnings rose 4.7%.
After the pandemic, Seychelles chose not to chase numbers. It chose value: fewer, higher-spending visitors, and eco-luxury over mass tourism. In a crisis, a destination built on volume breaks. One built on value bends.
Lesson three: more than one market
Africa was the only major region to grow in the first seven months of 2026, with arrivals up 9.6%. Regional ties are no longer a side note. They are insurance.
The work ahead
Every crisis leaves homework. Today, around six in ten visitors reach Seychelles through Gulf hubs that have served the islands well for years. Widening those gateways, alongside them rather than instead of them, is the natural next chapter.
The pandemic tested demand. This crisis tested access. Seychelles passed the first test by being bold. It will pass the second only by building more than one road home: more direct routes, more gateways, and a stronger role for its national carrier.
The recovery
The numbers are turning. August arrivals rose 14.1% year on year, to 34,987. Arrivals for the first eight months now stand 1.2% above the same period in 2024, though still 8.3% below record-setting 2025.
The skies are not yet calm. Last week, Iran warned that airports in neighbouring countries cooperating with US flight restrictions could face disruption. Seychelles cannot control that. It can control how ready it is.
Peace is a tourism policy
At the United Nations last week, President Dr. Patrick Herminie told world leaders that Seychelles is “a friend to all, and an enemy to none.” Non-alignment, he said, “is not passive indifference; it is an active choice for peace.”
For an island that lives on visitors, that sentence is also economic policy. A traveller does not need to choose sides to choose Seychelles. And a country with friends on every side of the flight path will always find a way to bring its visitors home.
COVID closed the world. This crisis closed the corridors. Both times, Seychelles kept its door open.
