Restricting Tourism via Conservation: The Maldives and the Seychelles in Comparative Perspective

The Seychelles and the Maldives are island archipelagos in the Indian Ocean, heavily reliant on international tourism for economic growth, job creation and foreign exchange. Given the centrality of tourism, it makes sense for these countries to pursue the industry's growth, which is what the Maldives does by endorsing an increase in the number of beds and aviation capacity. The Seychelles, however, has restrictions in place on the growth of tourism. This article explains this divergence by demonstrating that, in the Seychelles, international conservation NGOs active prior to independence in 1976 and before the establishment of the tourism industry institutionalised and embedded conservation ideals in how the tourism industry developed in the country. In contrast, in the Maldives, conservation actors did not gain a strong foothold, and tourism elites face little resistance in policy making, thus enabling the industry's rapid and unrestricted growth.