New tourism developments in Seychelles make a splash in prestigious travel magazine |19 August 2016

"The heat is on… The pace of change in the Seychelles is as slow as one of its giant tortoises ‒ but now a raft of fresh arrivals are dropping anchor.”

In the September issue of the prestigious travel magazine Conde Nast, Tim Ecott writes: “In the Maldives barely a week passes without another hot hotel opening ‒ all bells and whistles with a waiter who zip-lines through the treetops to serve dinner. In Mauritius, long-established big-hitters fill the fit-to-burst coastline, with occasional licks of paint doing little to change the vibe. Of the Indian Ocean archipelagos, though, it’s Seychelles where the scene remains most constant, meaning a soon-to-arrive Six Senses makes for an exciting shake up. Next month, Six Senses Zil Pasyon will open on the 650-acre black-granite island of Félicité, below, just off La Digue, a short boat ride from Praslin and the Vallée de Mai. With 30 pool villas, and an ocean-front spa, the first outpost for Six Senses in the area is small, but set to make a big impact. Also on our radar are the Seychelles’ remote outer islands: Desroches in the Amirantes, is being refurbished as a Four Seasons hotel, which joins its flagship on Mahé. Even more isolated, the mysterious Alphonse - 400 km south-west of Mahé - is shedding its rustic fishing lodge atmosphere in favour of a smarter act, promising an off-the-grid retreat and some of the best diving in the Indian Ocean.”

Tim Ecott is the author of Stealing Water (Sceptre) and Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World (Penguin) and Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Luscious Substance (Penguin). Alain St Ange, the Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture, has welcomed this colour page in the latest Conde Nast saying that the new attractions of the Seychelles continue to make news.

“We are not a mass tourism destination and it is these small but unique additions to our tourism industry that will be in the news as the world moves towards sustainable tourism practices,” said Minister St Ange.

Seychelles today has over 50% of its total land area set aside as protected nature reserves and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture is pushing for more hotels and resorts of the islands to join the ministry and to be counted as good custodians of the natural beauty the islands have been blessed with.