Seychelles to reopen borders to international tourists on March 25

A negative PCR test will be required to enter the country but quarantine requirements have been scrapped

The Seychelles will no longer require visitors to quarantine upon arrival. Courtesy Alin Meceanu / Unsplash

The Seychelles will reopen its borders to international visitors, irrespective of their vaccination status, on March 25.

Sylvestre Radegonde, the country's minister for foreign affairs and tourism, announced in a press briefing on Thursday that there will be no quarantine requirements or movement restrictions for travellers to the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The only requirement is that all visitors will need to present a negative PCR test, taken 72 hours prior to arrival. They will then need to adhere to public health measures currently in place in the country, which include the wearing of faces masks and social distancing in public.

The only visitors exempt from these new rules are those from South Africa, who will not be permitted to enter the Seychelles until further notice.

Radegonde explained that the decision to review and relax entry procedures was a response to the country's aggressive vaccination programme. The Seychelles is accelerating its vaccination efforts to ensure that 70,000 residents will have received their doses by Thursday, March 25. At present, 56,000 people have received at least a first dose of either the Sinopharm or Covishield vaccine.

“The vaccination campaign has been quite successful. The government has done everything in its power to make sure that the population is protected. We have now arrived at the point where opening our borders further is the next step to allow for our economic recovery,” Radegonde said.

“The measures being announced reflect broadly the recommendation of our tourism partners and have been done in full consultation with and the endorsement of our health authorities.”

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has recorded 2,979 cases of Covid-19, out of which 316 are still active, and 15 people have died of the illness.