Link to article- https://allafrica.com/stories/202103190472.html
Seychelles plans to reopen its borders on March 25 without any restrictions after almost all of their population has received the vaccine. The only requirement for those entering the country is a negative COVID test 72 hours before traveling. When their country shut down due to the pandemic, the effects on their economy were severe due to 50% of their economy relying on tourism. The government understands that the pandemic isn’t completely over yet, but they feel confident in their ability to contain any outbreaks that arise. With over 360,000 tourists in 2018, it will be interesting to see how many people they accumulate in the coming months as other countries also distribute the COVID vaccine to their populations.
It is great that Seychelles is able to reopen their borders, especially because of their heavy reliance on tourism for their economy. It will be interesting to see how this will affect the pandemic, as it seems Seychelles is returning back to “normal” life. This will be a test for the vaccine also to see if it works as people come from different parts of the world to visit Seychelles. It’s amazing that they have already been able to vaccinate about 90% of their population due to the speculation over the vaccine in other countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Hopefully, if all goes well, Seychelles can become an example for other countries to inspire their populations to take the vaccine.
In relation to class, I believe that Seychelles can be described as somewhat of a Gateway State due to their small geographic area and population. They have the ability to link different parts of the world together because of their influx of tourism, and this is the definition of a Gateway State. This makes them the opposite of a shatterbelt region, even though much of Sub-Saharan Africa is considered a shatterbelt region.