Holiday in Seychelles – The history of our tourism industry |09 October 2015

This year marks the 80th anniversary of our tourism industry (1935-2015). Tony Mathiot recounts the earliest years of what has become a pillar of our economy and gives us some nostalgic glimpses of the days when the first holiday makers arrived to bask in luxury of our sundrenched islands.

“…must surely epitomise the tropical resplendence that we read about in books. Please tell Selwyne and Winnie that we are having the most magnificent time. Brian says that this place actually represents heaven’s beauty! It is absolutely enchanting! It is certainly not what we expected it to be. There are cinnamon forests, coconut plantations and the most pristine beaches. We are staying at a quaint little bungalow on the west coast of the main island, where the owner, a charming lady of English extraction pampers us like ‘strangers in paradise’. The inhabitants constitute all the races of the world! By the way, they have a clock tower just like the one we’ve got at Victoria Station. Well, we’ve got three more weeks to spend here. At the end of April, we’ll catch the ship that sails to Mombasa, so in the meantime there are….”

A rhapsodic extract from Nishreen Sommerfield’s letter of March 12, 1955 to her friend in Leeds, Great Britain. Mrs Sommerfield and her husband, Brian, were actually staying at Raymonde Delorie’s Beau-Vallon Beach Hotel (on the exact site where Le Méridien Fisherman’s Cove Hotel is located) which was equipped with all the modern conveniences) including its own laundry and dairy and poultry farm!

Well, Mr and Mrs Sommerfield spent seven memorable weeks in Seychelles, during which time, they attended the first trade fair ever to be held here, organised by the Seychelles Home Industries and the Seychelles Home Craft Guild. They also joined our local folks and tourists from the cruise ship R.M.S. Caronia at the Carnegie hall to watch a couple of underwater films courtesy of Commander Jean Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997) who was at that time on one of his research expeditions in the Indian Ocean aboard the Calypso.

RAFFLES HOTEL, the first tourist resort in Seychelles

The Sommerfield couple were among the first generation of modern tourists to spend their holidays in Seychelles – but they were not the first ones to discover some of the most breathtaking sceneries on the planet. Seychelles had its first tourist ‘Resort’ when the Sommerfields were still toddlers. When the new Seychelles Hospital at Mont Fleuri opened in 1924, the old hospital building at Le Chantier (on the actual site where the National House is located) was renovated at a cost of R2,016.20 and it opened on March 9, 1928 as RAFFLES HOTEL. It had ‘furnished rooms, and arranged fishing trips, picnics and excursions to outer islands.’ This modern tourist accommodation which had nothing to do with the founder of Singapore, after whom that country’s pre-eminent hotel establishment was named, was so-named because its owners believed it would give the establishment a prestigious appeal. It later moved to a reclaimed site at the Long Pier (where the Pirates Arms is actually located). Raffles lasted until the end of 1936 when its owner, Harry Savy (1906-1994) who, in 1933 had acquired the lease of the establishment from Ernest de Coulhac Mazerieux (1899-1962) for R6,000, did not win the sympathy of Governor Gordon James Lethem (1886-1962) to have his lease extended for a further seven years in order for him to invest money in the enlargement and alteration of the hotel accommodation. Consequently, the large timber building was demolished and replaced by a new one. It opened on Saturday January 12, 1938 under the name of Empire Hotel. The building was not completely finished but the proprietors wanted to capitalise on the arrival of the Royal Mail Line cruise vessel, Atlantis.

If the tourism industry of Seychelles, regarding the development of hotel accommodation, was initiated in 1935 and thrived during the late 1930s, it is creditable to the few individuals who dared dreamed of Seychelles as having the potential to become a popular holiday destination. They conceived their innovative schemes at a time when most people who had the wherewithal and the entrepreneurial spirit had preferred to invest in the vanilla, cinnamon or copra business.

In the late 1934, Governor Lethem received an urgent correspondence from Marcel Louis Lemarchand (1887-1959). It was an application for a loan of £960 (R12,800) for the purpose of making improvements to a new tourist accommodation ‘Hotel des Palmes’ which a group of persons ‘of good standing in the economy’ had established at Mont Fleuri (The actual building of Théâtre de Palme). The land had cost R10,000 and the additions to the building that already existed on the  site had cost R8,000. A meeting of the Colonial Advisory Committee chaired by William Francis Stephens (1869-1963) was held on May 29, 1935 where it was “agreed that a satisfactory hotel in Victoria would be an asset to the tourist industry”. Thus, the Colonial Development Fund granted Le Marchand his loan of £960 to be repaid in six years at 5% interest.

In 1934, 58 visitors from Africa and India had spent a total of R40,000. This gave confidence to aspiring hoteliers! – plus the fact that cruise ships made Seychelles an imperative feature on their itinerary.

In the 1930s, the hundreds of visitors who marveled at our sublime soaring granite forested mountains and palm-fringed paracetamol-white beaches arrived on such ocean vessels as SS Atlantis, SS Franconiaand SS Stella Polaris. As far back as then, even Praslin was keen to show her tropical charms.

Mr and Mrs Lanier offered visitors accommodation for R4.50 per diem at their Grand Anse Hotel. Three maritime companies carried adventurous holiday-makers to our shores. The British India Steam Navigation Company’s mail steamers called at Port Victoria once every four weeks en route from Bombay to Mombasa and East African Ports, and once every eight weeks on their return voyage from Mombasa to Bombay. Steamers of the Royal Dutch Mail Line called at Mahe once every four weeks en route from Mombasa to Singapore, Hong Kong and Djakarta. Steamers of the Scandinavian East African Line called at Mahe every two months on their way from Madagascar to Europe. It was usual for the average visitor to spend a minimum of 6 weeks’ vacation in Seychelles.

Seychelles Information and Tourist Bureau Company Ltd

With proclamation No.10 of 1936, The Seychelles Information and Tourist Bureau Company Ltd came into being. It was a private enterprise established by a group of like-minded people who knew that publicity was a fundamental aspect of the tourism industry. In 1936, 12,000 copies of a publicity brochure were printed by the government at a cost of £31. These brochures consisted of a folder with three photographs (F. Vel) and two maps. They were distributed to various agencies in Kenya, India, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and UK.

Alas, just as ambitiously optimistic hoteliers began to invest in the creation of more accommodation amenities to cope with the increasing number of visitors, the eruption of the Second World War shattered all hopes of achieving any among the initial goals of tourism development in Seychelles. For almost a decade, the nations of the world were preoccupied with the economic and social consequences of that devastating storm, to be in the mood for a holiday in the sun.

It was in the 1950s that our tourism industry recuperated from its war doldrums and gained an impetus that would cause it to develop and expand all the way to the end of our colonial era and beyond… For two consecutive years, 1955 and 1956, the British Cunard cruise liner Caronia visited Mahe with some 500 tourists on board. By then, there were not less than six hotel accommodations on Mahe namely on the north and west coasts. These included Hotel des Seychelles and Beau Vallon Beach Hotel at Beau Vallon and Northolme and Fairhaven at Glacis.

It was during the time of Governor John Thorp (1912-1961) that tourism was allotted its own budget. This was in 1958, when the sum of R16,327 was granted to help in developing the tourist potential of the colony. In his radio broadcast on November 19, 1958, he judiciously stated that “If we can build up tourism at the same time as we improve and expand our agricultural industry then, indeed we will be beginning to get somewhere.”

His concern for the economic value of tourism in Seychelles was an important feature on his colonial agenda. Prior to his appointment in Seychelles, Thorp lived and worked for many years in Kenya where he occupied the post of District Commissioner of Machakos district. Having witnessed the rapid development of the tourist industry of Kenya, he recommended that Seychelles should join the East African Tourist Travel Association.

‘A thousand miles from Anywhere’

In 1959, his ‘plan for Seychelles’, establish a Department of Tourism and Information and a Colonial Development and Welfare Scheme to help potential hoteliers with loans. During that year, 480 tourists spent their holidays in our ‘Forgotten Isles’. Their expenditure amounted to about R432,000. The first director of Tourism and Information was G.F. Jarratt. He had the honour to launch our first tourism slogan ‘A thousand miles from Anywhere’. Certainly an attractive one that evoked images of the isolated ‘Tropical Paradise’. But then again, the irony was that it was her much-touted isolation that presented the greatest obstacle restricting tourist development! The paucity of regular communications to and from the African mainland and remoteness seemed like her main disadvantages to progress! During that year, loans amounting to R9,500 were issued to help in the purchasing of boats for game fishing, development of local handicrafts, and the renovation of tourist accommodations. In 1959, Barclays Branch opened a branch in Seychelles. This, certainly gave those in the tourist business the hope of ‘good times’ in the years ahead. More so again, when they learned that following a survey in March of that same year, Great Britain was considering the development of civil aviation and construction of an airport in the Seychelles.   Which despite all its pros and cons, was a sine qua non for the tourism industry of the mid-20th century.

The 1960s saw a confluence of events that boded well for the progress of tourism in the colony. In November of 1960, government assumed Legislative control of hotel establishments when ordinance No.27 of 1960 (Hotel Ordinance) came into force. It was intended to set minimum standards for existing and future hotels, with emphasis on sanitary and hygiene conditions. At that time, there were eight hotel accommodations in Seychelles which provided a total of 150 beds – and in 1960, 490 visitors came to Seychelles.

Electricity power increased from 1600kw to 2400kw so that electricity supply was extended to Beau Vallon, Bel Ombre and Anse Etoile. In June of 1968, the Hotel, Departure and Transit Tax ordinance came into force. A RI tax per night which ceased to be leviable after 30 nights continuous residence in the same hotel. Departure Tax was R20 for adults and R10 for children. (This Ordinance was repealed in 1971)

At the end of the year 1968, the Rochon Dam was completed. This first major scheme for water supply cost £500,000. At the same time, a contract was awarded to Costain and company (£4.5 million) for the construction of the airport. The Appropriation Ordinance 1968 made provision for the Tourism and Information Department to be allocated its first budget – being the sum of R196,701 (from R28,254,636). In 1969, the Department got R224,344 from the National Budget of R30,571,763.

On October 17, 1969, James Mancham who was the member of the Governing Council left Seychelles to attend the International Union of the Official Travel Organisation (IUOTO) which was held in Dublin from October 27 to November 5. The organisation which had been set up in 1925 at The Hague was the world tourist body comprising the governmental or official national tourist organisations of nearly all countries as well as international and national organisations directly concerned with tourism. With tourism becoming the major single factor in world trade, the United Nations was considering IUOTO as its main instrument for the promotion of tourism.

Mr Mancham who had been granted observer status felt that since “an airport alone gives us the possibility of tourism development, Seychelles must go out and show her goods”.

By then, plans had been finalised for Lars-Eric Lindblad (1927-1994) to bring his vessel Lindblad Explorer to our islands on holiday cruises. Lars-Eric Lindblad was a Swedish-American who pioneered tourism to many remote and exotic parts of the world. In anticipation of the first Lindblad expedition to Seychelles on April 3, 1970, Temooljee and Co imported 12,000 b/w postcards featuring sights and sceneries of Seychelles to supply the first batch of fortunate passengers.

In October of 1970, as the biggest construction project went ahead at Pointe Larue, BOAC (British Overseas Airline Corporation) which was then in its 50th year of operation expressed its intention to be the first scheduled airline to operate between Europe and Seychelles because the company wanted “to participate in the tremendous tourist potential in Seychelles.”

Arrival of Lindblad Explorer

What an eventful day it was on Friday April 3, 1970, when the 250 feet long Lindblad Explorer arrived at Port Victoria on her maiden voyage to our islands with 100 visitors from Britain and United States. From then on, the small luxury cruise liner visited Seychelles every fortnight until the end of November 1970. These tours which took visitors to discover the splendor of Frigate (Frégate), La Digue, Praslin, Cousin, Des Roches (Desroches), Des Noeufs (Desnoeufs), Farquar (Farquhar), Aldabra and Grand Comores were organised and arranged by BOAC and Lindblad Travel Inc.

But what an excitingly eventful year 1971 was! On Sunday July 4 at 3.10pm, the first BOAC VC 10 landed at the airport. It was flight BH 051 from Heathrow Airport UK with the first batch of modern tourists. The first modern beach resort, the 150-room Reef Hotel at Anse Aux Pins had just been built to receive them. It cost R133 single and R220 double daily for full board accommodation. That was forty-four years ago.

Four days later, on Thursday July 8, 1971, a Boeing 707 of South African Airways arrived with 40 leading travel agents. After they had toured the island of Mahe and had gasped at the achingly beautiful coastal sceneries, they unanimously concluded that with the opening of the airport, Seychelles was actually facing an absolutely fantastic dilemma whereby demand would exceed supply, regarding the limitations of hotel beds. Consequently, there was a sustained spate of hotel construction throughout almost the entire 1970s which included the R2 million conversion of Raymonde Delorie’s beloved Beau Vallon Beach Hotel into the Fisherman’s Cove. Coral Strand, Vista Do Mar and Bougainville Hotel opened in 1972. In 1974, the Beau Vallon Bay Hotel (368 beds) opened followed by the massive Mahe Beach Hotel (344 beds). On La Digue, Cabane des Anges and Choppy’s Bungalows opened in 1972 and Gregoire’s Island Lodge opened in 1974. On Praslin, there were Chateau de Feuilles, Village du Pêcheur and Prasco Fishing Lodge. Which meant that by the end of the 70s Seychelles had the capacity to offer about 800 more beds to the influx of visitors.

There was a surge in airline services. The 1970s are punctuated by milestones in our aviation history. On January 6, 1972, the first direct airline service between Seychelles and South Africa (Johannesburg) was launched by BOAC. On July 1, 1972, the first inter island air service between Mahe and Praslin began by Air Mahe. On February 3, 1974, the first direct flight from Seychelles to Paris was launched by Air France Boeing 707 called ‘Chateau de Dampierre’. It inaugurated a service that took place every Sunday and until November, on May 2, 1974, East African Airways started a weekly service from Nairobi to Seychelles – and in 1979, our national airline Air Seychelles was formed.

The frequency of visiting ocean cruise liners that Seychelles had known in the 50s and 60s remained virtually unchanged in the 70s. Among the many that kept handicraft sellers and taxi drivers cheerful, one in particular which dropped anchor in Port Victoria on  March 14, 1974 caused quite a hectic challenge for the fledging tour agents of the islands. This was the SS France which was then the world’s largest cruise ship. It brought 1,000 passengers ashore, for which the Coralline Tours had to cater by organising excursion tours around Mahe and visits to the Vallée de Mai on Praslin. It was an unprecedented exercise in tourist services for the newly established agency which was owned by Parkar and Oliaji Ltd. The other two travel agencies that had started operation were Travel Services Seychelles (set up by Eric Lindblad) and Bunson Travel Services, a branch of the company that was based in Kenya.

In 1974, a hotel and catering school opened at Mont Fleuri to train young Seychellois students who were keen to work in the tourism industry.

In October 1971, when the chief Minister James Mancham also held the portfolio for tourism, Seychelles became a member of ATOI (Alliance Tourism Ocean Indien) (on which the Vanilla island concept has been re-modelled). The organisation was formed in 1967, the year that the United Nations declared an International Tourism year under the slogan ‘Tourism-passport to peace’. 3,175 visitors came to the Seychelles that year. In 1972, the year that the airport was officially opened on March 20 by Queen Elisabeth II, the figure for arriving visitors multiplied stupendously to 15,197!

That same year, the government decided to lay down minimum wage rates for employers in the hotel and catering industry. The minimum monthly wage for waiters was R140 and for chambermaids R125. For other workers there was a minimum monthly wage of R100 if aged 16 years or over and R80 if less than 16 years. The following year, the department of Tourism and Public Relations was allotted the sum of R598,150 from the national budget of R77,485,380. The Director of Tourism was Roger Lascelles. In 1974, he was replaced by Colin Walsh.

Seychelles hosts 7th Annual General Assembly of the Alliance Tourisme Océan Indien

In 1974, Seychelles hosted the 7th Annual General Assembly of the Alliance Tourisme Océan Indien. It was the first International Congress of any kind to be held in Seychelles from February 18-22. Delegations from Reunion, Mauritius, Comores and Madagascar discussed how each country of the western Indian Ocean region could exploit the potential of the tourism industry while adopting a tourism policy that would be compatible with the development goals of each member country.

In 1976, the year that Seychelles became a republic, the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation got the sum of R7,175,350 from the National Budget of R174,556,926. Some 45,600 visitors came to Seychelles.

In March 1977, The United Nations Commission for Africa sent a regional Adviser for Tourism for a two-week study tour. Our tourist accommodation capacity to cope with growing demands was a main factor in his observation. That same year, Sheraton Corporation signed a contract for the management of a deluxe hotel resort at Baie Lazare. Val Mer Hotel, one of the most ambitious hotel projects that were to be constructed in Seychelles was slated to open in 1979 with 250 rooms and a staff of 320. It opened almost a decade later in 1988 and was named Plantation Club…and closed less than two decades later.

Tourism arrivals exceed our population

In 1978, a first milestone was reached in our tourism industry.

That was when the number of arriving visitors (64,995) exceeded that of our population (62,150)! In 1981, after a decade of airline tourism, it was obvious that our tourism industry had become the pillar of our economy.

Besides being a pivotal source of revenue (tourism income for that year – R289 million – was more than half the year’s national budget – R384 million) the sector was also an important source of employment.

The government judiciously invested in ambitious long-term programmes, in anticipation of growth prospects.

After all, Seychelles was already blessed with such tropical appeal as to lure the most parsimonious, reclusive entrepreneurs from the most remote township of Europe, even in summer.

In 1981, the Seychelles Tourist Board was established, with John Enright as director and 27-year-old Alain St Ange was his assistant.

The new Logo ‘Unique by a thousand miles’ (a subtle variation of the 1950s one) was launched at the World Trade Market in London and in a publicity campaign across Europe.

On October 26, 1983, Air Seychelles started international operations and the figures soared… and soared to reach over 100,000 in 1991 and in 2011 it doubled the population of Seychelles – 194,000 to 87,000!

During the last eighty years, they came from Europe, Asia and Africa. They came to spend their holidays and honeymoons in our large and luxurious hotel resorts, thatched chalet-style units, elegant suites, self-catering apartments and small personalised guest houses.

In 1993, there was the First Tourism Ball. In 2003, came the Tourism Incentives Act… In 2012, Alain St Ange was appointed Minister of Tourism and Culture. That year, we received over 200,000 visitors. In 2014 there was the First Congress of IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association) held in Seychelles.

They come in their thousands, every year. They suntan on beaches reading pulp paperbacks. They frolick in the foaming surf. They explore the forested mountains and admire the colonial dwellings from the late nineteenth century. They shop for souvenirs and they take thousands of photographs. They treasure every moment …in another world.

Like Mrs Nisreen Sommerfield wrote in 1955... “it will break our hearts when we have to leave scorching stunning Seychelles”.