Seychelles Logs Its Best August in Four Years as Russian Arrivals Surge

Seychelles recorded 34,987 international arrivals in August 2026, a 14.1% increase on August 2025 and its strongest August performance in four years, outpacing both August 2023 and August 2024. The rebound helped narrow, though not close, a gap that had opened earlier in the year: for the January-to-August period, total arrivals of 232,970 remained 8.3% below the same months of 2025, even as they ran ahead of the equivalent totals for 2023 and 2024.

Europe supplied two-thirds of August’s visitors, with Asia contributing just over a fifth and Africa under a tenth. Russia stood out as the only market among the archipelago’s top ten sources to post growth for the year to date, up 27%, while Africa overall grew 9.1% year-on-year, the sole growth region across the full eight-month period. First-time visitors made up more than 91% of August arrivals, and the average stay lengthened to 9.6 nights.

Spending holds up even as volumes lag

Despite the year-to-date arrivals shortfall, tourism revenue rose 5.1% over the same January-to-August period, evidence that visitors are spending more per trip even though fewer of them are coming. Vesna Rakic, chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board, said “there is certainly a silver lining in the latest figures,” pointing to “the stronger performance in July and August and the growth in several markets” as reasons to “remain optimistic.”

New flights feeding the recovery

Airline capacity has played a visible role in the turnaround. Turkish Airlines resumed service with three weekly flights, Aeroflot returned with two weekly services, Air Seychelles expanded its Abu Dhabi route to daily frequency, and new connections from Discover Airlines and Air Tanzania have added further capacity into the islands.

Why it matters

For a destination as reliant on tourism as Seychelles, the combination of a rebounding August and rising per-visitor spending suggests the islands are recovering from a rocky start to 2026 without simply chasing volume. The reliance on a shrinking pool of growth markets, chiefly Russia and parts of Africa, alongside declines from Europe, Asia and the Americas, means the recovery remains uneven, and much will depend on whether new airline capacity can convert into sustained arrivals growth through the rest of the year.