Tourism Background

Maldives Tourism Background

The Maldives populated by about 340,000 inhabitants in 200 islands is an archipelago of 1,190 coral islands spread across the Equator in the Indian Ocean. Everyone is Muslim and speaks Dhivehi, although some islands have distinct dialects. It is an earthly paradise of palm-fringed white beaches, coral reefs and turquoise lagoons and therefore a superb destination for tourists.

The very first tourists arrived to the Maldives in 1972, through an Italian tour-operator who then opened up Kurumba Village Tourist Resort on the island Vihamanaafushi in October 1972 (Willets and Marshall, 1992). Following Kurumba Village, Bandos Island Resort, as the second resort, was opened on the 10th of December 1972 (Bandos 2002). The Maldivian Tourism Industry (hereafter referred as MTI) began with a total of 280 beds in these 2 resorts. Currently MTI holds 23,677 beds in 110 different resort islands, 1,626 beds in 19 hotels, 1,930 beds in 135 guest houses and 2,716 beds in 163 safari vessels (Ministry of Tourism, 2014).

First Resort In Maldives

Tourism and fisheries sectors of the Maldives share a major part of the country’s GDP and are the main source of foreign exchange, which has significantly helped in achieving remarkable economic growth in recent years. The GDP per capita of the Maldives has increased from US$ 160 in the late 70s to over US$ 6,665 by 2010, indicating an average growth rate of 7.4% over the last 30 years (Ministry of Planning and National Development, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2014). Tourism alone contributes over 27% of the total GDP (Ministry of Tourism, 2014)

In the Maldives, the main parties involved in tourism industry are the Ministry of Tourism, Maldives Marketing Public Relation Corporation (MMPRC) and the resort owners and operators. Another important non-government organization made up of resort owners, the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) is one of the most influential bodies in the development of the tourism industry in Maldives. The main purpose of the Ministry of Tourism is to develop tourism at a national level and carry out long term planning, development and monitoring of the regulatory functions related to the tourism industry to ensure sustainable tourism which will benefit the whole country (Ministry of Tourism, 2014).

Source: BesTour Maldives