Any significant decline in the country’s tourist arrivals has a ripple effect on its economy, says President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
The president made the statement during the SAARC leaders' video conference, as initiated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday evening, and stressed that tourist arrivals started to “decline considerably” weeks before Maldives' first positive case.
Solih said that arrivals declined by 14.3 percent in February alone. Into the beginning of March, arrivals declined by 22.8 percent.
Further shedding light on the destructive fashion in which the virus has emerged in the Maldives, Solih said that the decline has become “so sharp” now that if this continues, the Maldives tourist arrivals rate will see a decrease by 35 percent throughout the year.
Tourism contributes over a quarter of the country’s GDP and is the source of well over two-thirds of foreign currency to the country. Every other job-creating and revenue-generating activity in the country is either directly or indirectly dependent on the tourism industry. Our industry is also deeply linked to many businesses and supply chains within the SAARC region, who will feel the knock on effects from the downturn in the Maldives.”President Solih
While China and Italy are observably the most affected countries since the global pandemic began, Solih stated that China is the number one market for the country’s tourism while Italy remains number three.
Maldives is now facing a “serious shortfall” in foreign currency earning since the government imposed temporary travel restrictions on both the countries with top tourist markets.
In addition, the president stressed that the country’s economy will be adversely severed if tourist arrivals continue to decline.
The shortfall in foreign currency and revenue are “seriously hampering” the government’s efforts to respond to the Covid-19 situation swiftly, stressed Solih.
Owing to this, the president highlighted that the Maldives is “in full agreement” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the need to formulate a comprehensive regional strategy that should comprise of three key elements.
As such, the president noted that a space must be created for closer cooperation between the health emergency agencies to ensure that the SAARC member nations have unhindered exchange of information about Covid-19 and best practices.
There is also a dire need to form an economic relief package, targeted to the affected countries, said Solih.
As a third key element, the president highlighted that the “comprehensive regional strategy” to fight the fatal disease must include a long-term recovery plan for the entire SAARC region.
Earlier, the Indian Prime Minister proposed for the leadership of SAARC nations to form a “strong strategy” to fight Covid-19 after which discussions began via video conferencing on Sunday.
