Comoros Islands: Africa’s Most Overlooked Archipelago and the Conservation Tourism Case

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Fishermen in the Comoros Islands never lost the coelacanth. They called it kombessa and knew it long before science did. When a South African museum curator identified one in 1938, researchers went looking for more and found them here: about 200 specimens have come from Comorian waters since, per Guinness World Records.

The same waters host one of the largest green turtle nesting sites in the Indian Ocean, humpback whales between July and November, and the last refuges of Livingstone’s fruit bat, a critically endangered species of around 1,200 animals. Yet only 20,297 international visitors reached the archipelago in 2023. Seychelles received 350,879 the same year, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Why the Comoros Islands Stay Off Africa’s Tourism Map

Politics drew the first line. In the December 1974 referendum, about 95% of votes favoured independence from France, yet a majority on Mayotte chose to remain French. The Comoros became independent in 1975, and the UN General Assembly recognised its claim to Mayotte that November. France kept administering the island regardless.

The split still shapes who visits. In 1995 France imposed the Balladur visa on Comorians travelling to Mayotte, and between 1995 and 2012 an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 Comorians died crossing by small boat, according to a French Senate report cited by The New Humanitarian. French tour operators, meanwhile, sell Mayotte and rarely add the Comoros, the World Bank noted in July 2013.

Tourism barely registers as a result. A 2009 estimate cited by the World Bank put tourism at 6.1% of Comorian GDP, against 8.3% in Mauritius and 25.0% in Seychelles. Diaspora travel peaks in July and August, leaving very few seats for other travellers and pushing Paris fares as high as €2,000 in high season. The official average stay was seven days, against 10 in Mauritius and Seychelles and 20 in Madagascar.

Instability and the 2000 closure of Galawa Beach, a resort that once employed 500 people, compounded the damage. The same World Bank review found that arrivals fell from 27,500 in 1998 to 17,500 in 2011, and that diaspora visitors from France made up more than 50% of arrivals from 2002, mostly for the Grand Mariage celebrations between July and September. Central bank data record 20,297 arrivals in 2023 and 21,718 in 2024.

Comoros Islands Conservation: What Mohéli Got Right

Conservation is where the archipelago has delivered. In 1991, villagers from neighbouring hamlets killed between 10 and 30 green turtles a day for meat on the beaches of Itsamia, a village on Mohéli. Residents decided to stop it. Dhoihirdine Ahmada Bacar, who helped set up the Association for the Socio-Economic Development of Itsamia, told Mongabay that the village acted before any park existed, first by keeping outsiders away from the nests.

That village action fed the Comoros’ first protected area. In 2001, Mohéli Marine Park linked 10 community-managed reserves across 404 km² of ocean, and it became Mohéli National Park in 2015. A 2019 UNDP evaluation, reported by Mongabay, recorded a tenfold increase in turtle egg clutches between 2009–10 and 2016, and the whole island became a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2020. Eco-guards and villagers patrol the beaches, and the reserves ended dynamite fishing on paper after the park funded boats to move fishers away from the reefs.

The lesson carries weight. Comorian communities can police a species more credibly than a distant ministry can, and they did it before the money arrived. The result is a product few Indian Ocean destinations can match: a living fossil, a mass nesting beach and migrating humpbacks inside one archipelago. Itsamia now hosts an annual turtle festival where visitors watch hatchlings scramble to the sea.

Pressure on that product is rising. Mohéli’s population has doubled in three decades and could reach 100,000 by 2040, Moussa told Mongabay, while a recent assessment warned that coral reefs across the western Indian Ocean, including the Comoros, could collapse within 50 years as the sea warms.

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Where the Comoros Islands Tourism Model Breaks

The visitors never followed the turtles. The World Bank’s July 2013 review counted an average of 390 tourists a year on Mohéli. Itsamia, one of the island’s most popular sites, welcomed 240 visitors in 2018, according to Mongabay, and a 2021 UNDP assessment found that very few community-managed tourism camps were operating.

Money vanished whenever donors did. The Global Environment Facility project that created the park ended in 2003, and Ben Anthony Moussa, the park’s executive director, described the years that followed as a financial rupture. In 2022, the park funded 10 community projects with €100,000, which Moussa called “far from enough”. Researchers also recorded a fivefold rise in turtle poaching on beaches outside the park after its creation, and eco-guards receive only sporadic wages.

Protection also squeezes the people who deliver it. Soilihi Abdou, a Comorian researcher who studies conservation’s impact on communities, said the restrictions often breed conflict. Villagers who lost their traditional right to take turtles still need to eat. A 2021 UNDP review judged the livelihood alternatives too thin to change that, and the project, now guiding the enlarged park network, due to close in 2027, will directly benefit only 8,000 Comorians.

Hotel megadeals follow the same arc. In 2013, the World Bank reported that none of Comoros Gulf Holding’s announced projects, including a €140 million Lac Salé scheme, were operating, and it listed a USD 70 million Galawa and Maloudja project with Katara Hospitality scheduled to open in 2015. In August 2026, eTurboNews reported that World Bank data still link construction activity to Galawa Hotel works and that independent documentation on a proposed 200-villa Games village remains limited.

Access and price shut everyone else out. In 2013, the World Bank recorded 12-day packages at €2,500 to €4,000 including flights, hotel occupancy of 25% to 50%, and no direct flights from Europe. In August 2026, eTurboNews described Moroni’s links as running through Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and the French Indian Ocean, without a dense web of nonstop European, Gulf or Asian services.

THE RCA POSITION

Fixing the Conservation Tourism Model in the Comoros Islands

Five changes would turn a strong conservation record into a tourism economy. The first three tackle money, market and access.

• Ring-fence the money. Charge a per-visitor conservation levy and send it directly to the national parks agency and the community committees that patrol the beaches, including regular wages for eco-guards. Seychelles shows how far financing can stretch: it expanded marine protection to almost a third of its territorial waters through a debt-for-nature swap with The Nature Conservancy. The World Bank (June 2025) rates Comoros at high risk of debt distress, with public debt at 36.8% of GDP in 2024, so the government should model a similar swap before it models another hotel concession. The case is urgent because the protected-area network is growing from one site to six, and Mongabay reported in 2022 that no clear blueprint existed for funding it.

• Sell nature to the diaspora first. Diaspora travellers already fill July to September, and humpbacks arrive between July and November. A turtle night at Itsamia, a whale trip and a Karthala hike, sold as an extension to Grand Mariage trips, would reach families who already hold tickets, and Itsamia’s festival already supplies the hook. This is our proposal, not an existing product, and it would test demand cheaply.

• Fix the lift, not the brochure. The Henley Openness Index 2025 ranked Comoros joint first of 199 countries for entry without a prior visa, and the African Visa Openness Index 2024 recorded visa on arrival for travellers from 53 African countries. Entry is open; seats are scarce, and the World Bank’s 2013 review explained why: airlines hold back capacity when beds are few and international tour operators are fewer. The government should negotiate tourism-linked frequencies with Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways and Air Tanzania, which eTurboNews lists among carriers on Moroni routes, and package multi-island itineraries with the wider Indian Ocean.

Making 2027 Count for the Comoros Islands

The last two changes depend on the 2027 Indian Ocean Island Games, which Moroni hosts.

• Write the post-Games business plan now. The World Bank (June 2025) names preparations for the Games as a driver of public investment, and eTurboNews reports dates running from 24 August into early September 2027. Government and developers should publish who will operate any legacy accommodation, who will maintain the roads and utilities around it, and how units will reach international distribution, before construction starts. A 200-villa village could strain electricity, sewage and freshwater systems unless those costs sit inside the financing, eTurboNews cautioned.

• Count what matters. In 2013, the World Bank found no reliable tourism statistics and no link between the islands’ data systems, and it recommended a visitor survey. The gap persists: central bank figures swing from 50,360 arrivals in 2022 to 20,297 in 2023, and we found no published explanation. Publish arrivals by island, purpose of visit and revenue per protected area, so airlines, donors and operators can price the risk and tell a Games spike from a lasting trend.

The Comoros Islands will welcome the region’s athletes in 2027, and cameras will briefly look at an archipelago the tourism industry has ignored. The harder question comes afterwards. Will visitors in 2028 pay for the turtles, the whales and the coelacanth, or will villagers in Itsamia keep protecting them for free? Watch the post-Games operating model for the proposed 200-villa village: whoever publishes it first will show whether the Comoros has decided to build for visitors rather than for announcements. 

We argue that the Comoros Islands do not have a marketing gap; they have a model gap. Because the strategy rests on diaspora family visits, donor-funded eco-camps and hotel megadeals that rarely open, it produces no airlift, local ownership or funding base for conservation tourism to grow on. The turtles stay protected on paper and underfunded in practice.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR AFRICA’S AND NIGERIA’S TOURISM SECTOR

For Africa. The Comoros proves that visa reform alone does not fill seats. It ranked joint first on the Henley Openness Index 2025, yet it recorded 21,718 arrivals in 2024. Airlift, price and product decide the outcome, and African governments that chase visa headlines without route incentives will repeat the pattern.

Conservation tourism also needs a revenue mechanism. The World Bank (June 2025) argues that expanding marine tourism and conservation within a blue economy strategy could support Comoros’ goal of reaching upper-middle-income status by 2050. If the Comoros pairs a visitor levy with a debt-for-nature deal, it hands small African coastal and island states a template. If it does not, it confirms a warning: protected areas without visitor revenue depend on donor projects that end.

The regional contest matters too. Seychelles drew 350,879 visitors in 2023, compared with the Comoros’ 20,297. Joint Indian Ocean itineraries could let the Comoros sell nature and culture as an extension to its neighbours, rather than compete head-on for beach holidays.

For Nigeria. Nigerian passport holders already qualify for visa on arrival, so the barrier is routing, not paperwork. Travellers would connect through hubs such as Addis Ababa or Nairobi, where Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways link onward to Moroni. Nigerian operators that build Indian Ocean packages around whale season and turtle nesting could open a market that skips Europe and the Gulf.

The lesson also applies at home. Nigeria offers visa on arrival to citizens of 36 African countries, yet open borders on paper do not create demand without flights and finished products. Nigerian parks and community conservation sites face the same funding question as Mohéli: who pays for protection once the donor project closes? A levy-based, community-paid model deserves a serious test. Finally, operators who depend on diaspora peaks should read the Comorian pattern as a warning about seasonality: a calendar built around family visits leaves most of the year empty.

Africa, In Full goes where the brochure stops. Read RCA’s analysis of why African routes stay missing, then explore our destination investigations and tourism policy arguments on rexclarkeadventures.com. Subscribe, and the next dispatch reaches you first.

 

FAQS

1. Where are the Comoros Islands, and which islands can visitors reach?

The Union of the Comoros sits in the western Indian Ocean at the mouth of the Mozambique Channel and has three islands: Grande Comore (Ngazidja), Anjouan (Ndzuani) and Mohéli (Mwali). France administers Mayotte, the archipelago’s fourth island. The main international airport, Prince Said Ibrahim, lies on Grande Comore near Moroni.

2. Why do so few tourists visit the Comoros Islands?

Limited and costly air access, a small hotel supply, a record of political instability and low international visibility all play a part. The central bank recorded 20,297 arrivals in 2023, while Seychelles received 350,879.

3. Do Nigerians and other Africans need a visa for the Comoros?

The African Visa Openness Index 2024 recorded visa-on-arrival for travellers from 53 African countries, Nigeria included. Entry rules change, so confirm the current requirements with a Comorian embassy or your airline before booking.

4. When can travellers see turtles and humpback whales in the Comoros?

Turtles visit Mohéli year-round, and humpback whales frequent Comorian waters between July and November. Itsamia, on Mohéli, built its turtle protection around community patrols and now runs an annual turtle festival.

5. Does conservation tourism work in the Comoros Islands?

The conservation half works; the tourism half does not yet. A UNDP evaluation, reported by Mongabay, recorded a tenfold rise in turtle egg clutches between 2009–10 and 2016, yet Itsamia received only 240 visitors in 2018. Reliable flights, a visitor levy that funds protection, and a published tourism data system would close that gap.