is Seychelles Tourism in trouble? The Seychelles Government has revived an old policy called Vertical Integration that had been shelved and are imposing limitations on the growth possibility of local businesses. The tourism trade is calling this exercise as ‘clipping the wings’ of the tourism sector.
Tourism remains the pillar of the Seychelles economy and only the tourism trade are targeted by this new regulation. One affected party has already lodged a challenge to the regulation in front of the Courts of Seychelles. Seychelles desperately needs its tourism industry to perform as it provides employment over and above ensuring that the economy stands solid.
The Seychelles Tourism Board will need to find extra marketing budget if the larger DMCs curtail their marketing expenses and diminish their presence at Tourism Trade Fairs because of their ‘wings being clipped’ by the new regulations.
The time for the Seychelles Government to have a ‘bottom up’ series of meetings on this matter is now. Anger and expectations are building and Government may well see themselves unable to deliver to demands aired and risk shrinking the island’s tourism industry at the same time.
One post on Social Media during the last couple of days said something to that:
“We hear a lot of noise from those responsible on the number of Cruise Ships visiting Seychelles. I just ask how many of us Seychellois are benefiting? Those tourists are not even buying a banana, nor a red coconut for drinking, nor do they eat in a restaurant, do not hire a taxi or a bicycle, nor a boat to get to Coco or Curieuse Island. They land at the port and board the white man’s bus to do their tour and eat at his hotel, take another boat to La Digue and do the same thing”.
