The More the Merrier? : A Study of Sustainable Tourism Development in the Seychelles Islands

ABSTRACT The cost of doing nothing would be very high on the fragile national ecosystems andultimately on the society of the Seychelles. ’Seychelles National Report 2012 p55 This Minor Field Study, undertaken as a Bachelor’s thesis, aims to research the Seychelleswork with sustainable tourism development and its challenges. The study was conducted onsite for two months in cooperation with the Seychelles Tourism Board. The national strategyfor sustainable tourism development is intended to maintain the uniqueness of Seychelles.Seychelles has for over 30 years been a global leader in protecting biodiversity and naturalenvironment and 51 % of the total land area consists of conservation areas. On the otherhand, Seychelles main source of income is tourism, with 40 % of the inhabitants directly orindirectly depending on tourism. As one of our interviewees put it: “the more tourism, themerrier”. The country will get better infrastructure and more jobs because of it and howcould that spoil the environment? This study looks into hotels perceptions of sustainabledevelopment in the tourism industry, their work with sustainable practices and thoughtsconcerning ecolabelling. Results show dissatisfaction with the government and that betterenvironmental governance is needed. The recent rapid development of new hotels isbecoming a rather problematic situation due to higher competition, infrastructural problemsand lack of labour force. The interest in an eco label is high, although they believe it iscomplicated to implement and is perceived as expensive. On the other hand, hotels are moreor less working in a sustainable way already.Regardless of the sustainable tourism development initiative, our interviewees had afear that Seychelles is becoming a mass tourism destination. They demand that this trend bestopped. We ask therefore, is more really merrier