Seychelles Tourism Board predicts 10% rise in UAE visitors this year

Investments flourish despite cancellation of Emirates’ hotel.

The Perseverance housing development in the background in Victoria, Seychelles. The affordable housing project is being build with the help from the UAE. Silvia Razgova / The National

The Seychelles Tourism Board predicts a 10 per cent increase in the number of UAE visitors to the archipelago this year.

“Last year, 232,000 tourists visited Seychelles – of which 13,000 were from the UAE and 18,000 were from the Middle East,” says Sherin Naiken, the chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board. “We predict a 10 per cent increase in the number of UAE tourists to Seychelles this year.”

According to TRI Consulting Middle East, the Seychelles had about 30 major hotel developments in the country in 2014. This is in addition to smaller guest houses.

During the fourth quarter of last year, licensed accommodations in the Seychelles sold 242,819 room nights, reflecting a 58 per cent occupancy rate.

Ms Naiken says that the cancellation of the Emirates Group $253 million hotel project in the Seychelles will not affect UAE investments in the country.

In February, the Seychelles president James Michel announced in a state of the nation address that the project would not go ahead because of “environmental reasons”, after the hotel faced criticism from local citizens and politicians because of its size and its proposed location, close to a marine park in Seychelles main island Mahé.

Last November, Emirates had proposed to downscale the size of the project to 100 rooms instead of 400, but the project still faced opposition owing to potential damage to some marine species in the area. Emirates Group had initially started the Cap Ternay Resort project in 2007, but the recession meant it had to put the project on hold. It only resumed a year ago, which is when the environmental impact assessment started.

“I don’t foresee it affecting the UAE investment in Seychelles, because of the good relationship that the two countries have on a bilateral level,” says Ms Naiken.

“It happens from time to time that some projects don’t go through because of the environmental reports,” she added.

Emirates declined to comment.

The UAE investment in the Seychelles includes stakes in hotels such as The Four Seasons and Kempinski. H-Hotel is also planning a development, according to Ms Naiken.

Peter Goddard, managing director of TRI Middle East, said much of the UAE’s investments in the Seychelles tourism sector are land acquisitions and acquisitions of existing hotels.

“Some of the hotels and resorts in Seychelles have the highest rates of occupancy in the world. As a consequence, they can be very profitable,” he says.

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