Travel And Tourism News
Tourism arrivals in Seychelles Grew By 9% During The First Half Of The Year
Figures recorded by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed a remarkable growth in the tourism arrivals in June 2019 this year.
Indeed 25,761 visitors stamped their passports at the immigration desks at the Seychelles International Airports for a vacation on our shores.
An increase considered as exceptional for this period of the year, as it is the first time that Seychelles has ever recorded over 25,000 visitors during this month.
Figures presented by the NBS, confirmed that visitor’s arrivals from the beginning of the year to end of June 2019 are equivalents to 187,108. This represents a significant increase of 9% when compared to the same period in 2018 as the number of visitors recorded for that period amounted to 172,099 visitors.
Germany remains at the top of the best five performing markets for the month of June 2019 as 4,087 German tourists disembarked on our shores; the United Arab Emirates (UAE) follows with a number of 3,119 visitors.
While the 2,110 visitors were recorded to have landed from United Kingdom (UK). In fourth and fifth position are France and Italy with a number of 1,855 and 1,794 tourists, respectively.
As projected by the Strategic Planning and Market Intelligence department of the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB), the targets set- at 3 to 4%- by the STB for this year will be exceeded.
Speaking at a press briefing at Botanical House earlier today, Mrs. Sherin Francis STB Chief Executive mentioned her satisfaction to note that 2019 would also be a year of great performance for the industry.
“It is remarkable to see that Seychelles remains a prime destination and that for the past few years the destination has performed quite well throughout the year. June is always a slow month and we had anticipated that this year it might be the same despite our active work to bring more tourist in the country. The current figures from NBS comforts us in knowing we managed to hit a record for the month of June,” said Mrs. Francis.
Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport sets new passenger and flight record
Ethiopia’s main international aviation gateway, Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, on Wednesday this week set a new passenger and flight handling record.
310 aircraft landed and took off from the airport and 29.528 passengers – 8.500 of them inbound – passed through the airport’s new and old terminals.
Commenting on the Airport’s preparedness for the peak season, Mr. Getaneh Adera, Director of Bole International Airport and Acting CEO of Ethiopian Airports said, “With the partial opening of the new terminal which will more than double the capacity of the airport, we are very excited to serve record number of passengers in this summer.”
As the home base of Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest flag-carrier serving over 120 cities around the world, Addis Ababa has turned into a major hub handling hundreds of flights each day. The airport has seen a major expansion recently which will boost its capacity to cater for 22 million passengers annually.