Victoria (Seychelles) (AFP)

"It's a disaster", sums up Sybil Cardon, owner of a hotel in the Seychelles, where the Covid-19 pandemic has brought down the number of tourists essential to the economy of the archipelago of less than 100,000 inhabitants, in Indian Ocean.

Tourism contributes around 25% of the country's GDP, according to official statistics, and is, along with the tuna industry, the main source of foreign exchange.

In 2019, its paradisiacal beaches and turquoise waters attracted more than 330,000 tourists, two-thirds from Europe.

In the first three quarters of 2020, just over 75,000 landed in the archipelago.

In the 2nd and 3rd quarters, their number fell by nearly 83% from the previous year, a drop similar to that of business travelers, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Closed at the end of March to international flights, the airport in Victoria, the capital, reopened on August 1, but not all companies have resumed their flights and tourists are arriving at a trickle.

"Since the reopening of the airport, we have tried to reopen our establishment, but it is a disaster, we are running at a loss, because there is nobody", notes Sybil Cardon, also president of the Association of the Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism (SHTA).

Director of the Equinoxe diving center in Beau Vallon, Manuela Alcaniz "has noticed a slight improvement since the opening of the airport, but nothing significant".

Nearby, at the Boat House restaurant, "today we only have one customer; normally in October we are full," notes Françoise Mancienne, her manager.

Despite state aid to pay salaries, hotels and restaurants had to part with part of their workforce.

Sybil Cardon has laid off 10% of the staff at his hotel, Les Lauriers, on Praslin Island, while the Boat House has kept its employees but does without extras employed part-time in the evening.

- Reconversion -

More than 700 Seychellois have lost their jobs in the hospitality and tourism sector.

According to the NBS, the accommodation and food industry employed more than 12% of the workforce before the epidemic and the culture, entertainment and recreation sector more than 3%.

Employees deprived of activity by the health crisis reduced the jobless rate to 6.3% against 4.8% in the first quarter, according to the NBS.

Since July 1, the government has set up a "Professional Transition Program" (Sets) for them: the State pays their salary in exchange for training, further training or upgrading. level.

"Currently, if there was no help, I don't know what situation I would be in to repay my loan and provide for my children", explains Sheila Marie, who worked in the accounts of a hotel. and is now training in payroll management.

"This should give me enough baggage to be able to find another job", if the activity does not resume by December 31, the end of the program, adds the young woman.

The authorities are hoping for a return of tourists in December, at the peak of the season, with the resumption of flights by most airlines to the Seychelles, a high-end destination.

But some players in the sector are pessimistic.

"The airlines that come to the country have only 50 people on board, I'm afraid they'll stop coming," worries Sybil Cardon.

Not to mention that Europe, where most of the tourists come from, is facing a second wave of contamination.

The conditions of entry into the archipelago, where only 149 cases have been recorded, are draconian.

Only travelers from a limited list of countries are allowed to disembark, with a negative Covid-19 test dating back less than 72 hours.

But those arriving from France, the United Kingdom and the Emirates must now take a test of less than 48 hours and stay five days, without leaving, in an approved hotel.

A drag for many tourists from these three countries, which in 2019 provided a quarter of visitors to the archipelago.

Manuela Alcaniz, she sees the future "in a very positive way": given the situation, "things can only get better".

© 2020 AFP