The Seychelles: Bankrupted playground of the rich and famous

On the other side of the world, surrounded by the Indian Ocean, lies an idyllic island paradise few Americans have ever heard of, fewer yet can spell, and maybe two can correctly pronounce.

This playground for the uber-wealthy, celebrities and royalty is now known for something far less chic than an exotic "place to be seen". Seychelles is bankrupt.

Thanks, in part, to the frivolous stupidity of the world's wealthy, Seychelles has been awarded the Oscar for the most indebted country in the world. Each one of it's 87,000 inhabitants is now responsible for nearly $10 thousand of poor decisions by local leaders. The total debt rounds down to $800 million. To put this in perspective, Seychelles entire debt is equal to it's entire economy.

Tourism and fishing are the staples of the Seychellian economy. As this revenue began to slow, then trickle in, last year the Seychelles defaulted on a $230 million Euro bond that had been orchestrated by a hemorrhaging banking giant called Lehman Brothers. Oh, how convenient.

"We borrowed more than we can repay," complains Ralph Volcere, the editor of Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly and a vocal government critic. "This was wholly irresponsible."

The result of irresponsibility has led to the emergency steps of wholesale layoffs of government workers, a yard sale for government assets, and doubling the price of imports.  All positive developments for the local population. In an effort to buoy his fellow countrymen, Seychelles Vice President Joseph Belmont warned local tourism industry business owners that tourism revenue could drop by 25% or more due to the global recession. Some pep talk.

Despite the grim tourism news and massive debt, Seychelles officials remain optimistic about tourism. They cite that they intend to heavily court the middle-tier (read: cheap) traveller along with their usual assortment of big spending celebrities and luxury-seeking clientele. No one would expect royals to stay in a room at the new Four Seasons Hotel that will cost you and me $1,345 per night.  No sir, for the uber-wealthy, free-standing Presidential and Royal suites are available from $6,055 per night. God forbid these scions of money should have to mingle with the little people.

There is plenty of blame to go around for the plight of this island nation, but let's take a moment to shift a heavy load of the responsibility to a class of people who have done more harm than good throughout history. If not for the ridiculously fickle nature of the uber-wealthy and their need to turn every seasonal "hot spot" into mirror images of the "luxuries" they enjoy back home. Places like the Seychelles would not be fooled into believing that these same rich people actually give two steamy turds about the place into which they inject their money or, for that matter, how their travel habits effect the people who come to rely on the income their frivolous spending supports.

Local governments would not borrow massive sums to prop up infrastructures and build huge, preposterously expensive resorts in the false belief that (a) there are enough rich people out there who can afford a room that costs over a thousand dollars per night and (b) that rich people will continue to come back year after year after year.

What these islanders did not understand, and what so many other tourist-driven localities do not understand, is that most rich people do not care about the places they visit or the people who call these vacation fantasies home. Call this a "gross generalization" if you wish, but any tourist casually observing his surroundings in a tourist mecca will see plenty of evidence to support the claim that the wealthy traveler only cares that the same trappings of wealth they left behind for a week or a month ... the same trappings they grew bored of in their home towns ... are now available in an exotic location. Because we all know that Hermes is cheaper in Seychelles than it is Moscow or New York. These people do not care that the 20,000 square foot beach-front cottage they spend two-weeks a year inhabiting required tons of precious valuable local material to build or the land it sits on used to belong to a local fisherman and his family. They do not care that their extravagances raise the cost of living exponentially for locals who have to scrape by on a barely-living wage. They only see their "needs" and the fantastical self-importance of their “generosity” in the “jobs” their travel “provides”.

As long as there are local leaders in exotic places who decide to hitch their wagons to the frivolity of the world's wealthy, the futures of such places will be at the mercy and whim of the Fickle Class.