Maldives is expecting over 100,000 tourist arrivals for the remainder of the ongoing year, says Minister of Tourism, Dr. Abdulla Mausoom.
The recently appointed minister made this remark during an episode of BBC and PATA’s Destination Insight Webinar series, where he joined alongside Deputy Minister of Tourism, Dr. Naushad Mohamed and other industry officials.
Maldives is small, our main industry is tourism and when tourism stopped, everything stopped. We didn’t have much of a choice so for us to move on we had to reopen the borders and it was a very brave and bold decision from the president to open borders with the support of the industry and our prime objective is to do it in a safe way, so the safety of tourists and staff, locals were our main concern and that is the area that we are addressing. We are doing it slowly but steadily.”Dr. Abdulla Mausoom, Minister of Tourism
Expressing his confidence that he has the full backing of the industry, Dr. Mausoom thanked the industry partners actively promoting the country and stated that the contribution is immensely appreciated, including from tourists who are portraying Maldives as the safest destination in the world currently.
Touching down on tourist arrivals since border reopening, the minister stated that it was a trickle at first which increased to over 1,000 daily arrivals within weeks.
He highlighted that a large growth in arrivals cannot be expected as source markets are still sticking to their home-quarantine policies.
Expressing hope that the home-quarantine requirement will be lifted soon, Dr. Mausoom stated that “this will be a game changer”.
Another thing the minister noted is that tourists have been deciding to stay longer and that the duration of stay from source markets has increased to an average of two weeks, from a week previously.
The government has approved the license for over 80 tourist resorts to operate and currently, over 25,000 beds are operations.
But resorts who are opening are doing so to have the tourism going. Because they are not making profit at the moment. Many resorts are operating at a loss but some are making profit. That is the sacrifice industry experts are making to keep it going. Safari sector also has 2,000 beds in operation. 50 percent of beds are now in operation. It is not full yet but we are hoping it will get busy day by day"Dr. Abdulla Mausoom, Minister of Tourism
Noting that the industry has been in the face of numerous challenges due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Mausoom said that the industry has successfully been rising above the challenges.
Shedding light on the recently announced Maldives insurance packages to cover Covid-19 for tourists, Dr. Mausoom stated that the country is now able to overcome that barrier today.
A proud minister also noted that demand from some countries are so high that the flights currently in operation are insufficient.
Maldives is now very much prepared for the pandemic because we are ready and our community numbers have gone down tremendously and we have ample facilities, we are very confident now, we can move on with this and I think more than words from me, it is the Instagram posts and the Tweets and Facebook posts from the tourists that have visited us these days would tell the real story. But I’m telling you, Maldives story is now very beautiful"Dr. Abdulla Mausoom, Minister of Tourism
Since border reopening Maldives has recorded over 22,000 tourist arrivals. With the re-opening of borders on July 15, the tourism industry has begun flourishing “at a steady pace”.
The island nation was granted the Safe Travels Stamp by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on September 15, paving a path for a better, optimistic future for the industry, the ministry earlier said.
