Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority launches digital payments for park tickets

Online payments for Curieuse Marine Park will be mandatory as of August 1. (Salifa Karapetyan, Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - Visitors and tourism operators seeking to buy tickets for a visit to Seychelles' Curieuse Marine Park will as of August 1 do so via digital means through a mandatory online payment system introduced by the Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority (SPGA).

The use of the online system is expected to reduce the number of revenue leakages, improve control over ticket sales for visits to terrestrial and marine parks, gardens and trails in Seychelles, as well as help reduce the operating costs of SPGA.

The chief executive of the authority, Allen Cedras, told reporters on Friday that with most services moving to digital, it is important for SPGA as an organisation to do so as well so as not to be left behind.

"We want to retain and maximise revenue collection at our parks as we make further investments. We have done small research and seen that there are internal and external leakages," said Cedras.

The CEO outlined that in a good year, the authority collects around SCR15 million ($1 million) from ticket sales and loses around 50 percent of revenue that should have been collected through leakages.

Cedras said that most clients who come to visit Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, record their stay through the use of a smartphone, so access to the website should not be a problem.

The use of the online system is expected to reduce the number of revenue leakages, improve control over ticket sales. (Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority) Photo License: All Rights Reserved

With the system accessible at www.spga.gov.sc/tickets, a client needs to fill in the required fields and once payment has been confirmed will get a QR code that is valid for the next 24 hours. Tickets are issued per person, per day for a specific park, and are valid between 8 am and 5 pm daily.

In the terms and conditions, the purchase of entrance permits is compulsory for non-residents before entering each SPGA paying site and presented to an SPGA officer upon entry. Meanwhile, Seychellois citizens and residents need to present their residency identification upon request.

In cases where a client will be mooring a vessel overnight in a marine park, a fee of SCR 250 ($17.4 ) per vessel per night is applicable and payment can also be made on the website when purchasing the ticket. A mooring permit is required for a vessel inside the marine park for any period between 5 pm and 8 am.

Aside from online payments through the website, there are also points of sales (PoS) at the different sites, allowing clients to come with their credit or debit cards to make payments.

Depending on the marine park, garden, or trail being visited, access to these sites costs between SCR100 ($7) to SCR300 ($21).

Cedras also shared that further parks and services will be added to the website when the authority is ready.