2019 will be a record-breaking year for guesthouse tourism in the Maldives, says Tourism Minister Ali Waheed.

Minister Waheed told the press at the ongoing ‘Guesthouse Symposium’ that the local guesthouse industry is ‘united’ and that concerns of industry actors will be promptly addressed.

The minister said that an action plan to bolster, not just guesthouse tourism, but the entire tourism sector will be launched and in enforcement before March of next year.

In reference to next year’s ITB Berlin trade exhibition, Waheed said that Maldivian businesses will appear in such fairs after attending to ‘in-house matters’.

Waheed also said that the Tourism Ministry had inherited several ‘challenges’ from the previous government but ‘none that cannot be resolved’ and said he has no intention to speak on the matter any more than necessary.

Holding the Guesthouse Symposium on the new government’s first 100-day agenda, and about 400 guesthouse businesses are participating in the ongoing event at Dharubaaruge in capital city Malé.

The symposium will go on until 22:30 on Saturday and several panel discussions are on the agenda.