Maldives Tourism Expects to Grow

Maldives

The political crisis unfolding in the Maldives has not impacted the local tourism industry thus far, according to tourism stakeholders.

The country’s president Mohamed Nasheed has stepped down in the face of what his supporters termed a coup d'état by opposition elements. Vice President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, sworn in as his replacement shortly after, has since pledged that tourists would not be at risk from the political disruption.

 Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik

The Maldives Association of Travel Agents & Tour Operators said in a statement: “The geographical isolation of resorts and inhabited islands leaves tourists away from daily activities of local population centers. We would like to assure that the holidays of tourists in Maldives would not be affected in the current scenario.”

Kai Jellinghaus, destination manager for Germany-based REWE Destination Service AG, said all flights into the Maldives were operating as per normal, and that he had not received any cancellations for bookings.

“The situation (in the capital Male) is stabilising,” he said, adding that the UK has issued a travel advisory, while Germany has asked its nationals to be cautious when visiting Male.

Michelle Flake, contracting & marketing manager of Scaevola Travel, an inbound operator, revealed she had fielded a few calls from clients concerned about the situation, but that “they (had) not cancelled as I explained that this won’t affect the resorts”.

The political crisis is an unwelcome disruption for the Maldives, which was hoping to welcome its inaugural millionth international arrival in a single calendar year this September.

Simon Hawkins

According to Simon Hawkins, managing director of the state-owned Maldives Marketing & PR Corporation, arrivals to the Maldives are expected to grow by 18-20 per cent this year over the 931,333 received in 2011.

China was the top source market in 2011 with 198,655 visitors, a 67-per cent jump over the year before, while Europe – despite a fall in arrivals from the UK and Italy last year – was now showing hints of a recovery.

European markets accounted for 57.7 per cent of inbound traffic in 2011, down from 63.8 per cent the year before. Last year, there were 104,508 visitors from the UK (8.5 per cent drop from 2010), 90,517 from Germany (+ 17.4 per cent), 83,088 from Italy (- 7.3 per cent) and 63,936 from Russia (+ 30.2 per cent). The average length of stay was 7.0 days, down from 7.4 days in 2010.