The government has declared October 3 as the annual National Tourism Day.

The announcement was made by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih during a ceremony held at Kurumba Maldives to launch the official one-year countdown to the 50th anniversary of the Tourism Industry.

October 3 also marks the opening of the first resort in the Maldives, Kurumba Village at Vihamanaafushi island near the Maldives capital, in 1972. President Solih decided to dedicate a day for the occasion owing to the fact that there are currently no such occasions to mark the successes of the tourism industry.

With this being said, it is to be noted that such celebrations were held during the International Tourism Day celebrations, previously.

Further, a song to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the tourism sector was also unveiled at the ceremony. The lyrics of the song was presented to the president.

First Lady Fazna Ahmed also joined the president at the ceremony, alongside Minister of the Cabinet, senior government officials, representatives of the tourism industry as well as long-serving members and leaders of the industry.

Maldives is gearing up to mark 50 years since the tourism industry’s inception, in 2022, which is to be celebrated as the golden year of tourism in Maldives. During 2020, Maldives recorded 555,494 tourist arrivals, which was a drastic plunge from the previous year’s 1,702,887 arrivals. Arrivals for the ongoing year have been picking up pace over the past months.