Seychelles already has fees attached to airline tickets but are set to add a new one effective 1st April this year. It is called a disembarkation levy. Starting from April 1st, all passengers who arrive on an international flight will pay a new landing fee of US$15.
The new Disembarkation Levy has confirmed in a letter addressed to the CEO of the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority by Didier Dogley, the Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports & Marine Minister on the 1st February.
The recent aviation conference in Mombasa and the last ROUTES Africa Conference held in Ghana addressed the cost of air travel in Africa which is being hampered by Government Taxes and Levies. The new Seychelles Disembarkation Levy falls exactly in line with the reports submitted and discussed at these meetings. Fuel Taxes, Landing Taxes and Levies are easy mechanisms to raise revenue but are these really ways that help the economy grow?. These questions when raised can only bring negatives for the Continent of Africa and its individual tourism destinations.
Seychelles has been pushing for family holidays and these visitors are making use in a lot of instances the homely small Seychellois owned and managed tourism establishments. The new Seychelles disembarkation levy case will see a family of four dish our a further sixty US dollars on a Seychelles package holiday. This will be subject to further markups into programs.
The Tourism Board will have to sell this new levy at the coming Tourism Trade Fair in Berlin in March because all packages to Seychelles are not showing this new tax that comes over and above increase in fees to some islands marketed as nature parks and as IATA is confirming that COVID19 (Corona Virus) is impacting passenger demand. Packages to Seychelles have been contracted over a year ago and mid-year increases often annoy tourism trade partners and can have negative repercussions.
Source: Saint Ange Tourism Report
