Minister of Tourism Dr. Abdulla Mausoom has highlighted critical benchmarks for tourism recovery across the sector, noting that the industry is expected to recover and equalize suitably in the upcoming month of July.

Minister Mausoom made the remarks in an appearance on Raajje TV's "Fala Surukhee" progeamme, where he noted that he was not completely satisfied with the rate at which tourism was recovering in the Maldives following the downturn caused by Covid-19. He added that while tourists were arriving now that borders had been re-opened, there were critical issues with capacity which needed to be addressed within the industry at this time.

Minister Mausoom said that the recovery benchmarks for tourism were spread across different angles of development. He noted that the Russian market was more significant now, and that the India market remained a strong contender as some luxury resorts in the Maldives were punching in record profits as seen in December last year.

Tourism Minister Mausoom went on to note the difficulties presented in locking down tourist establishments due to Covid-19, especially highlighting the issues faced with safaris and live-aboard vessels, where investments and costs were also relatively high.

In addition to this, Minister Mausoom addressed critical issues with the capacity of Velana International Airport, amid social distancing measures enacted to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission among travelers and airport staff.

During the programme, Minister Mausoom also declared that tourism can only be considered recovered when jobs are renewed for the industry's youth. The Minister also made a distinction on whether the benchmark for recovery here was to record the same number of arrivals, or to have all the employees who were laid off in the pandemic return jobs within the tourism industry.

Minister Mausoom highlighted that while tourism in Maldives was presently operating at 95 percent bed capacity, it was important to ask whether 95 percent of those who had been unemployed last year were back to work to reflect this change. He assured that while that was not the case, discussions were being conducted with resort managements to have the issue resolved, and welcomed any and all complaints from tourism sector workers on their employment status.

The Tourism Minister also declared that while Maldivians were exceptionally creative and highly talented, this was not expanded or developed upon due to a lack of funding during his appearance on the "Fala Surukhee" progeamme.

Minister Mausoom said that the country could not afford to allocate that essential budget to creatives across the island nation, and that brilliant ideas and innovations were not converted to output and being wasted as a result. He added that the lack of budgeting for this had forced the Maldives to partner with foreign parties to provide opportunities for growth to local creative.

Tourism Minister Mausoom went on to declare that it was the incumbent administrations goal to have Maldivian youths go forward with their creativity and art, and that they would not be compromising that goal even when partnering with foreign parties.

Further highlighting the opportunities for youth in tourism, Minister Mausoom said that efforts were being made to allow ease of entrance for youth entrepreneurs unto the diving and hotel industries. This includes a mandatory provision that calls for Maldivians to be majority shareholders in such initiatives, with up to 49 percent of shares free to be bought up by foreign investment partners.

Minister Mausoom noted that most new businesses were veing propped up by bank loans, and that business owners would have the choice to repay their loans at 15 percent interest rates, and issuing 5 percent of their profit as dividends to shareholders.

Minister of Tourism Dr. Abdulla Mausoom went on to declare that work was being done to help youth progress within the tourism sector as per the vision of the incumbent administration, noting that opportunities for expansion would be provided for businesses that would help strengthen the tourism sector such as diving and sports-related ventures.