Visitor arrival figures for 2013 stood at 230,272 – a new record – while tourism earnings jumped to US $343.6 million.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) released these figures this week.

The NBS confirmed that as at December 31, 2013 the visitor arrival figure was 230,272, compared to 208,034 in 2012. 

This represents a 10.7% increase over 2012 and the figure is over two and a half times the total population of Seychelles and over five times the working population of the islands.

Of the 230,272 visitors, 229,609 came to Seychelles by air and the remaining 663 came by sea.
 
The number of visitors who came for holiday stood at 213,036, those on business numbered 8,027 and those who combined holiday and business was counted at 222. The number of transit passengers was 1,177, while another 7,810 came here for other purposes.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Seychelles’s estimates from tourism earnings in 2013 reached US $343.6 million, representing an increase of 11% over the 2012 figures of US $310.3 million.

Commenting on these statistics, Tourism and Culture Minister Alain St Ange extended his congratulations to the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) for a job well done.
 
"The strategy in place to market Seychelles is working. The annual marketing meeting where the industry's private sector and the government sit together to plan the year ahead is bringing the results we all wanted and expected. The net has again been dragged to the beach at Beau Vallon and it was full of fish for those interested to come out and collect their share," Minister St Ange said.

He added that the country as a whole now needs to move to benefit more from the tourism business and in so doing increase the yield from tourism. 

"As a country we are often confused with regards to the yield derived from tourism. Government does not set hotel rates, this is done by the respective establishments and they charge depending on what they feel they can charge when faced by competition, not here but in the region and in the world at large. 

“We have to work to reinvest, to upgrade so as to get a better rate, but at the same time we need to think outside the box and get more activities for our visitors to appreciate. We need to provide more for them to do so they are able to spend. The state will be proactive facilitators, but it is the private sector that now needs to grab the opportunities that are up for grabs and in so doing increase the country's yield from tourism," Minister Alain St Ange added.