Sri Lanka’s dreams of reopening the country to international tourists seems to move further out of reach as the country’s confirmed Covid-19 cases keep rising at an alarming rate and curfew is being imposed in several districts. This is further confirmed by officials in the local tourism industry, such as the President of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO), Mahen Kariyawasan, who claimed that there is still no fixed date for the country to reopen its borders.
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"Their main concern was whether our destination was safe, so we had to prove to them that we were safe; and secondly, our research shows that the people want to get out of their homes and experience nature, which is something they took for granted before", Seychelles Tourism Board CEO Sherin Francis [/caption]
While Sri Lanka’s tourism industry suffers under the weight of the Covid-19 pandemic, some competing markets have already opened their borders and are welcoming international tourists. Seychelles, a competing tourist destination to Sri Lanka in the region, opened its borders to a select group of international markets in August; and received over 3,000 international tourists within the last two months.
The 115-island nation in the western Indian Ocean attributes its quick recovery to the low number of positive cases and zero deaths, with the country having no active cases since May. According to officials in the country, this has motivated several international airlines to begin regular flights to the island destination. These include airlines such as Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Edelweiss, and, as of October, British Airways and Kenya Airways.
In 2019, Seychelles hosted a total of 384,204 tourists according to the island nation’s National Bureau of Statistics data, with around 70,000 of the tourists being from Germany, followed by France, the UK, Northern Ireland, Italy, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Switzerland, respectively. This has resulted in the country’s tourism industry contributing 55% to its GDP (gross domestic product) and amounts to 75% of their foreign exchange earnings.
Since the first positive case of Covid-19 was announced back in 14 March, Seychelles, similar to most countries, went into lockdown; and their cases peaked on 6 April with a case total of 11. However by 1 June the country experienced a lower number of cases and announced a move to reopen the country to tourists from 19 selected countries, with another 17 countries put under consideration.
These countries varied from nations in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the South Pacific, but they all shared something in common; they were all considered “low risk” by Seychelles authorities, due to low incidences of cases.
As of 1 October, this list includes Australia, Austria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mauritius, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Vietnam, and even Sri Lanka.
During an international webinar held by the Centre for Excellence in Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality in Sri Lanka themed “Tourism Now and Then” held on 16 October, the Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Tourism Board, Sherin Francis stated that the first thing they did before reopening for tourists was to do research on their target audience. Based on this research, she explained that a lot of international tourists still had travel in their minds, and all they had to do was make plans that fit the current needs of the tourists.
“Their main concern was whether our destination was safe, so we had to prove to them that we were safe; and secondly, our research shows that the people want to get out of their homes and experience nature, which is something they took for granted before. We are a small island nation, so we are highly dependent on tourism, and because of this we had to meet the aspirations and the requirements of these new travellers.”
Francis stated that their strategy was built on three pillars, with the first being the health of the population. The country’s first effort was to ensure that they had the capacity and the facilities to deal with the pandemic, and that the population was safe and healthy; therefore, they decided on going into immediate lockdown.
The second pillar came in the form of the Seychelles cohesion, which aimed to build a strong community which was prepared for the eventuality of a second wave or a reintroduction of the virus in the islands.
“As of May, we have no active cases but of course opening our borders means exposing our country to a certain level of risk. So we set up a national framework to deal with the reopening of our borders.”
The first layer of foundation of this new framework was to ensure that all the sectors across the country were ready for the reopening. This meant that every establishment, from local shops to churches, had a procedure to operate in this new normal, and according to Francis, all these establishments have embraced these new procedures, such as social distancing, and it has become a part of their daily operations.
“We were confident that as a country we could deal with the current situation, so in June we started welcoming private plans, and on 1 August we opened the country for international flights. This is when we introduced a few more risk managers, and put money into safety measures.”
She stated that a PCR test 48 hours before coming to Seychelles was a mandatory requirement from all the travellers, and will be vetted by the country’s public health authorities along with the travel applications, to check its authenticity. Prior to arriving at the airport, the travellers will be required to download the country’s travel app, which is accessible online, and this will be used in their screening procedure once they land.
Another major risk filter the country has introduced is that tourists can only stay in certified establishments and have access to safe certified services on the islands. Francis stated that all the personnel in these establishments and services are sent through rigorous training to ensure that the procedures they have in place are followed. Each establishment comes up with their own standard operating procedure, according to guidelines given by the Seychelles’ Ministry of Tourism and public health authorities.
This is further reinforced by regular training to boost the confidence of the public, so that they can handle themselves. Moreover, the establishments also have to conduct daily symptom checks on any in-house visitors until they leave, and report daily to the public health authorities.
“We have also recently developed a travel bubble with seven of our core markets, so that even if these markets have a higher level of risk, we allow them into the country with stricter measures instead of moving them to the not-permitted list.”
Francis stated that these high-risk tourists have a short list of specific hotels from the list of certified hotels, where they have to stay for a minimum of five days. She explained that these do not count as quarantine facilities because they are not confined to their rooms, and instead can walk around the hotel premises. Staff in these special hotels are trained to handle these high-risk tourists.
“After the five-day stay, we test again and if it is negative, then we let them enjoy the destination as they would normally do but with some simple steps and measures for them to follow to keep themselves and everyone safe.”
Furthermore, she stated that they have a Covid task force which meets once or twice a week, overseeing all these procedures, and work closely with all the current airlines entering the country to ensure that the tourists’ travel experience to their destination is as seamless as possible. She went on to state that their current airport procedure is smoother than it was pre-Covid, due to the level of attention they pay to the customer service part.
“The journey to our destination is a pleasant one, because these tourists are coming for a holiday and not to a clinic or hospital. So we are being very mindful of our customers’ journey, because it is a very important part of the process.”
Francis explained that their goal is to attract tourists for long stays, and they have launched a marketing campaign to promote long stays. The country’s Tourism Board is now encouraging visitors to use the island nation as a home office, combining a bit of work with a holiday visit during a time when much of the world is embracing work-from-home policies as part of Covid-19 prevention measures.
"Their main concern was whether our destination was safe, so we had to prove to them that we were safe; and secondly, our research shows that the people want to get out of their homes and experience nature, which is something they took for granted before", Seychelles Tourism Board CEO Sherin Francis [/caption]
While Sri Lanka’s tourism industry suffers under the weight of the Covid-19 pandemic, some competing markets have already opened their borders and are welcoming international tourists. Seychelles, a competing tourist destination to Sri Lanka in the region, opened its borders to a select group of international markets in August; and received over 3,000 international tourists within the last two months.
The 115-island nation in the western Indian Ocean attributes its quick recovery to the low number of positive cases and zero deaths, with the country having no active cases since May. According to officials in the country, this has motivated several international airlines to begin regular flights to the island destination. These include airlines such as Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Edelweiss, and, as of October, British Airways and Kenya Airways.
In 2019, Seychelles hosted a total of 384,204 tourists according to the island nation’s National Bureau of Statistics data, with around 70,000 of the tourists being from Germany, followed by France, the UK, Northern Ireland, Italy, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Switzerland, respectively. This has resulted in the country’s tourism industry contributing 55% to its GDP (gross domestic product) and amounts to 75% of their foreign exchange earnings.
Since the first positive case of Covid-19 was announced back in 14 March, Seychelles, similar to most countries, went into lockdown; and their cases peaked on 6 April with a case total of 11. However by 1 June the country experienced a lower number of cases and announced a move to reopen the country to tourists from 19 selected countries, with another 17 countries put under consideration.
These countries varied from nations in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the South Pacific, but they all shared something in common; they were all considered “low risk” by Seychelles authorities, due to low incidences of cases.
As of 1 October, this list includes Australia, Austria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mauritius, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Vietnam, and even Sri Lanka.
During an international webinar held by the Centre for Excellence in Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality in Sri Lanka themed “Tourism Now and Then” held on 16 October, the Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Tourism Board, Sherin Francis stated that the first thing they did before reopening for tourists was to do research on their target audience. Based on this research, she explained that a lot of international tourists still had travel in their minds, and all they had to do was make plans that fit the current needs of the tourists.
“Their main concern was whether our destination was safe, so we had to prove to them that we were safe; and secondly, our research shows that the people want to get out of their homes and experience nature, which is something they took for granted before. We are a small island nation, so we are highly dependent on tourism, and because of this we had to meet the aspirations and the requirements of these new travellers.”
Francis stated that their strategy was built on three pillars, with the first being the health of the population. The country’s first effort was to ensure that they had the capacity and the facilities to deal with the pandemic, and that the population was safe and healthy; therefore, they decided on going into immediate lockdown.
The second pillar came in the form of the Seychelles cohesion, which aimed to build a strong community which was prepared for the eventuality of a second wave or a reintroduction of the virus in the islands.
“As of May, we have no active cases but of course opening our borders means exposing our country to a certain level of risk. So we set up a national framework to deal with the reopening of our borders.”
The first layer of foundation of this new framework was to ensure that all the sectors across the country were ready for the reopening. This meant that every establishment, from local shops to churches, had a procedure to operate in this new normal, and according to Francis, all these establishments have embraced these new procedures, such as social distancing, and it has become a part of their daily operations.
“We were confident that as a country we could deal with the current situation, so in June we started welcoming private plans, and on 1 August we opened the country for international flights. This is when we introduced a few more risk managers, and put money into safety measures.”
She stated that a PCR test 48 hours before coming to Seychelles was a mandatory requirement from all the travellers, and will be vetted by the country’s public health authorities along with the travel applications, to check its authenticity. Prior to arriving at the airport, the travellers will be required to download the country’s travel app, which is accessible online, and this will be used in their screening procedure once they land.
Another major risk filter the country has introduced is that tourists can only stay in certified establishments and have access to safe certified services on the islands. Francis stated that all the personnel in these establishments and services are sent through rigorous training to ensure that the procedures they have in place are followed. Each establishment comes up with their own standard operating procedure, according to guidelines given by the Seychelles’ Ministry of Tourism and public health authorities.
This is further reinforced by regular training to boost the confidence of the public, so that they can handle themselves. Moreover, the establishments also have to conduct daily symptom checks on any in-house visitors until they leave, and report daily to the public health authorities.
“We have also recently developed a travel bubble with seven of our core markets, so that even if these markets have a higher level of risk, we allow them into the country with stricter measures instead of moving them to the not-permitted list.”
Francis stated that these high-risk tourists have a short list of specific hotels from the list of certified hotels, where they have to stay for a minimum of five days. She explained that these do not count as quarantine facilities because they are not confined to their rooms, and instead can walk around the hotel premises. Staff in these special hotels are trained to handle these high-risk tourists.
“After the five-day stay, we test again and if it is negative, then we let them enjoy the destination as they would normally do but with some simple steps and measures for them to follow to keep themselves and everyone safe.”
Furthermore, she stated that they have a Covid task force which meets once or twice a week, overseeing all these procedures, and work closely with all the current airlines entering the country to ensure that the tourists’ travel experience to their destination is as seamless as possible. She went on to state that their current airport procedure is smoother than it was pre-Covid, due to the level of attention they pay to the customer service part.
“The journey to our destination is a pleasant one, because these tourists are coming for a holiday and not to a clinic or hospital. So we are being very mindful of our customers’ journey, because it is a very important part of the process.”
Francis explained that their goal is to attract tourists for long stays, and they have launched a marketing campaign to promote long stays. The country’s Tourism Board is now encouraging visitors to use the island nation as a home office, combining a bit of work with a holiday visit during a time when much of the world is embracing work-from-home policies as part of Covid-19 prevention measures.