The Seychelles is hoping to give its tourism industry a boost.
Ok, so easily the biggest benefit of having the coronavirus vaccine is the protection it offers you from the horrid virus. Let’s get that straight first. But, there are plenty of tangential benefits to being vaccinated against Covid-19, and the small archipelagic nation of The Seychelles has just given us a very compelling one. The island has dropped quarantine protocols for anyone who’s been vaccinated against coronavirus, meaning a beachy break in paradise is back on the table.
At present, any travellers entering The Seychelles need to display a negative Covid test result from the last 72 hours and self-isolate for ten days upon arrival. For anyone who has been fully vaccinated, however, the ten-day quarantine will be waived, although a negative test result will still be required. Vaccinated travellers will need to present a certificate from their national health service to say they’ve received both doses of the vaccine, too.
The Seychelles is continuing to make progress with their vaccination program, with the stated goal of becoming the first nation on Earth to vaccinate the entire population. Once they’ve managed to vaccinate 70% of the islands’ near-100,000 population, the ten-day isolation for all travellers could be dropped, making a holiday here more of a possibility. The move isn’t just for the headlines, either – some 65% of The Seychelles’ GDP comes from tourism, making the return of guests a top priority for the country.
So, if you’re one of the four million people in the UK to have had the coronavirus vaccine, a break in The Seychelles is probably looking just dandy right about now. Unfortunately, current Foreign Office guidance specifically forbids international travel from the UK without a “legally permitted reason to do so”, and the UK closed all travel corridors earlier this week – all of which means that sunning oneself by the waters of the Indian Ocean is unlikely to count as a good enough reason. Still, just the sight of those beaches is enough to put it straight on my post-vaccination bucket list…