Seychelles risks out pricing itself out of the market if the present trend of building just expensive 5- star hotels continues.
The point was hammered home by stakeholders at the recent Seychelles Tourism Board meeting. The stakeholders were apparently referring to a statement on SBC TV by the Board’s chairman, Maurice Lousteau-Lalanne, that Seychelles was so special that it’s got to be very costly and it cannot be otherwise.
One participant noted that there are now so many competing beach destinations, that however superb our beachscape, travelers are also wary of affordability. The example of the working European who is faced with the choice of a week’s holiday in Seychelles with something a bit less attractive for a third of the charge, was food for thought.
The 5-star hotels charge on average $1,000 a night- Fregate Island as much as $2,000. An ait ticket Mahe-Praslin return is now shooting above 150 euros; i.e. over R2, 000 bank rate or R 3,600 parallel market rate. And the ferry is not much cheaper, with Cat Cocos charging 90 euros return for non-residents. The rates, already too high, have shot up again recently, supposedly because of oil price increases. Now that prices are going down, it is hoped that the benefits of cheaper oil will be passed on to clients.
As for the newer hotels, which are mostly foreign owned, they were already paying concessionary rates for fuel. Seychellois-owned establishments were subsidising them.
It is possible that tourism growth which has been rather sluggish this year could pick up in the aftermath of tropical storms Gustav and Hanna which lashed the Caribbean and the turmoil in Thailand, also a favourite beach destination. The Indian Ocean can be viewed as an alternative destination. How many more visitors will Seychelles draw?
Time will tell.