“This is excellent news for the destination and, despite remaining on the country’s red-list, we commend the decision by the French authorities to relax restrictions on those of their citizens who, having taken personal and collective responsibility to protect themselves and their fellowmen against COVID-19, can now travel to Seychelles. As a destination, we look forward to wish our French visitors la bienvenue once again to our shores,” Minister Radegonde said.

France is traditionally one of the Seychelles’ leading tourism source markets, accounting for 11% of the 384,204 visitors who visited the island destination in 2019. French visitors patronize a large range of tourism establishments, from luxury properties to guesthouses and self -catering establishments. Seychelles saw a 92% drop in visitors from France following the onset of the pandemic.

In Paris, the incoming Director General of the Tourism Department’s Destination Marketing Division Mrs Bernadette Willemin said enthusiastically that the news has been very well-received by the destination’s French tourism partners. “Excellent news indeed and the new measures are very positive and have been very well-received. It will definitely bring back some confidence on the market amongst the travel trade and help to secure new reservations for Seychelles, whilst securing some forward bookings for the second half of the summer holidays. For us, it is reassuring in that we have a higher convergence expectation rate for our forthcoming promotional activities/efforts.”

Air France is set to resume air services to Seychelles as of 23 October 2021, with two direct, non-stop flights per week. The flights will operate out of CDG airport over the winter season every Thursday and Saturday, and depart Mahé on Fridays and Sundays. Seychelles remains accessible from France through other airlines serving the destination, such as Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian and Turkish Airlines.