How the Seychelles Is Courting the World’s Wealthiest Travelers

For decades, the Maldives has been the poster child for Indian Ocean escapism. Its overwater villas, cerulean lagoons, and barefoot butlers have become synonymous with the tropical island fantasy, and last year, an all-time high of 2 million visitors touched down on its sugar-white sands. But nearly a thousand miles southwest, on the jungle-covered of , an upsurge in marquee hotel openings and increased flight connections is beginning to court its biggest spenders.

In 2024, this African archipelagic nation, a thousand miles east of the continent’s mainland, welcomed a little more than 350,000 international arrivals. It’s a fraction of the Maldives’ numbers, but that’s exactly the point. The ’ 115 islands have long embraced a high-value, low-impact approach to tourism, prioritizing sustain