More work needs to be done to promote local tourism, says Minister of State for Tourism Dr. Ahmed Solih.

Solih made the remarks while speaking at the 'Falasurukhee' program of RaajjeTV.

The State Minister noted that there are still very few guest houses in some islands.

Noting that people are reluctant to open guest houses because there are no easy arrangements to bring guests Solih said that there are things that need to be done to solve this problem.

He stated that more people need to be trained in this field.

Additionally, Solih noted that the Ministry of Tourism has been visiting islands and providing assistance.

Speaking at the program, Solih noted that one of the biggest challenge to further develop the tourism of Maldives is the lack of good quality airports.

As such, noting that development of airports is essential to promote tourism in different regions of the country, Solih stated that the current administration is working on developing airports in different regions of the country.

Highlighting that easy transportation from one island to another is also important for tourism development, Solih noted that the administration's vision to connect the islands via Raajje Transport Link (RTL) will be beneficial for the tourism sector.

Furthermore, Solih went onto highlight that 2023 is a record breaking year for Maldives tourism. As such, he noted that by 10 April 2023, Maldives has welcomed more than 582,000 tourists. He went onto note that the country will be able to reach the tourist arrival target with the combined efforts of relevant government agencies, private sector and industry stakeholders.

The total number of tourist accommodation establishments currently operational across the Maldives is 1,231.

As such, the ministry’s figures revealed that  a total of 60,514 tourist beds are in operation across these facilities, which include 170 resorts, 895 guesthouses, 13 hotels and 153 live-aboard vessels. The guesthouses span across 117 islands of 20 atolls, with hotels operational in seven islands of seven atolls.

As of April 12, 68 percent of the bed capacity is occupied by resorts, followed by 24 percent occupied by guesthouses, five percent by safari vessels and three percent by hotels.

The total number of operational beds span across resorts, hotels, guesthouses, and live-aboard vessels including 41,241 in resorts, 1,640 in hotels, 14,674 in guesthouses and 2,959 in live-aboard vessels.

Maldives currently has a capacity of 1,235 tourist facilities which include 153 safari vessels, 895 guesthouses, 13 hotels and 174 resorts. This means that of the total facility capacity, four resorts are yet to resume operations.