Tag: MALDIVES TOURISM

India has signed an air bubble agreement with the Maldives, making it the sixth country in a growing list of places where Indians can travel to.  The first flight to Male will leave from here on August 18. An air bubble between countries allows citizens to travel freely between specified nations without having the need to undergo on-arrival quarantine. India currently hasallowed travel to the US, the UK, Germany, France and Kuwait, and is in talks with Canada for a similar travel arrangement. The agreement with Maldives was inked during a video conference between External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and his Maldives ... Read more

Maldives’ five eco-tourism zones, to be built with grant assistance from India, have been launched. The contract award ceremony was held on Monday as part of Delhi’s neighbourhood first policy. As the implementing agency for these projects, Addu City Council (Maldives), is responsible for steering the entire project cycle including tendering, tender-evaluation, award of contracts, monitoring and execution of the projects. Addu is a city in Maldives that consists of the inhabited islands of the southernmost atoll of the archipelago. It is the second largest urban area in Maldives. The five eco-tourism zones, under this project, will come up in ... Read more

Qatar Airways, on Wednesday, became the first airline to resume operations to Velana International Airport (VIA) after Maldives reopened borders. According to the airline, the scheduled flights will connect via Hamad International Airport located in Doha, Qatar, with European and American destinations including London, Copenhagen, Stockholm and New York. Daily flights from Doha to Male’ will depart at 0205hrs and arrive at 0905hrs, while flights from Male’ to Doha will take off at 2000hrs and land at 2245hrs. “We are excited to resume scheduled flights to the very popular tourist destination of Malé, Maldives. We are even more delighted to ... Read more

The Maldives President has sacked the country’s Tourism Minister Ali Waheed, after female employees in his office accused him of sexual offences, news agency Associated Press reported on Thursday. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had called for the resignation of Ali Waheed and then sacked him after he failed to step down on his own, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Hood said. Police confirmed receiving complaints of sexual misconduct by Waheed. An archipelago state in the Indian Ocean, Maldives is known for its luxury tourist resort islands.  The development has come at a time, when Maldives is preparing to reopen to international visitors ... Read more

Maldives is looking to open itself to tourists from July 1, with strict safety regulations, as the island country looks to revive its economy. Maldives’ minister of tourism, Ali Waheed, said the country cannot remain closed for long, adding that the industry representatives are working on guidelines to reopen the sector. However, not all countries are welcome. Tourists from Asian countries, including India, China, South Korea and Sri Lanka, and in the Middle East can travel, but guests from 12 other countries including Spain, Italy, the UK and the US will not be allowed in. Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways ... Read more

In the first half of April, a New York Times article wrote on a couple stranded in Maldives on a “never-ending honeymoon”. They are still stuck there along with hundreds of other tourists, as flights have been cancelled. “There is nowhere to go. The couple reign like benign yet captive sovereigns over their islet. The days are long and lazy. They sleep in, snorkel, lounge by the pool, repeat,” the NYT wrote. It may sound like fun to get stranded in a tropical paradise like Maldives, but the tourists are running short of funds. In an interview to CNN, Ali ... Read more

There are around 1,000 tourists staying in 27 resorts across Maldives, the country’s minister of tourism Ali Waheed has said. To contain the spread of COVID-19, the Maldivian government on March 28 had stopped issuing on-arrival-visas and closed its borders to incoming tourists. However, tourists who had entered the country before the order came into effect were allowed to remain in the country until the end of their stay. Government estimates show that the country will see a dramatic drop in tourist arrivals due to the global pandemic, and experience a shortfall of approximately $450 million (MVR 6.9 billion) in ... Read more

Tourist arrivals in the Maldives increased by 8 per cent in the first three quarters of 2018, with over 1 million visitors visiting the island country from January to September statistics from the Maldives Tourism Ministry. According to official figures, over 100,000 tourists visited the Maldives in September, up 1.5 percent compared to the same period last year. In total, 1,080,459 tourists have arrived in the holiday islands so far this year. The Tourism Ministry said China remains the largest source market with 222,108 arrivals so far this year, representing a market share of 20.6 per cent. The other leading markets ... Read more

The tourism occupancy rate in Maldives reached 75 per cent in the first three months of 2018, which is 5 per cent more than that of the same period last year. It was reported by the Maldives Monetary Authority. The information was from the quarterly business survey of the Maldives Central Bank. As per the report, tourism industry’s occupancy rate hiked to 75 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 from 70 per cent of last year over the increased average guest night stay. The statistics shows, the tourism industry is performing well in terms of tourist foot prints ... Read more

The Maldives state-owned Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) stated in a press release that it is seeking interested international public relations corporations to boost tourism in the Maldives. MMPRC said that the prospective PR corporations are from Macao and Taiwan. The selected companies would be hired on a one-year contract. Currently, the Maldives government is implementing a mega campaign to promote tourism in the island through its foreign offices and embassies across the globe. MMPRC stated that they are utilizing the digital marketing techniques for propagating Maldives on various platforms. According to statistics from the Tourism Ministry, a total ... Read more

Around half a million tourists have visited the Maldives in the first quarter of this year. Chinese tourists contributed to the growth in arrivals. A total of 539,816 travelers arrived between January and April, registering a 12.7 per cent increase from last year’s 478,827 tourists who arrived during the same period. According to statistics released, a total of 87,632 Chinese travelers have visited Maldives between January and April, which is up 16 per cent, followed by Italy which saw a 9 per cent growth, both Britain and Germany with a 8 per cent growth and Russia with a 6 per ... Read more

മാലെ: രാഷ്ട്രീയ പ്രതിസന്ധിയില്‍ നട്ടം തിരിയുന്ന മാലദ്വീപില്‍ ടൂറിസം മേഖലയുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട സ്ഥാപനങ്ങള്‍ പലതും ആളില്ലാതെ അടച്ചുപൂട്ടുന്നു. സന്ദര്‍ശകര്‍ യാത്ര റദ്ദാക്കുന്നത് പതിവായതോടെയാണ് ജീവനക്കാര്‍ക്ക് ശമ്പളം നല്‍കാന്‍ കഴിയാതെ പല റിസോര്‍ട്ടുകളും ഹോട്ടലുകളും അടച്ചിടുന്നത്. പ്രതിദിനം നാല്‍പ്പത് ശതമാനം ബുക്കിംഗുകളാണ് മാലദ്വീപില്‍ റദ്ദാക്കുന്നത്. ഇന്ത്യ,ചൈന അടക്കം നിരവധി രാജ്യങ്ങള്‍ അവിടേക്ക് പോകരുതെന്ന് സ്വന്തം പൌരന്മാരോട്‌ അഭ്യര്‍ഥിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്. ഈ വേനല്‍ക്കാലത്ത് മാലദ്വീപിലേക്ക് വരാന്‍ നിശ്ചയിച്ചിരുന്ന പല ചാര്‍ട്ടര്‍ വിമാനങ്ങളും റദ്ദാക്കിയെന്നാണ് വിവരമെന്ന് വിനോദ സഞ്ചാര മേഖലയിലെ കൂട്ടായ്മയായ എല്‍എഎം അറിയിച്ചു. മാലദ്വീപിലെ അടിയന്തരാവസ്ഥ ഇക്കഴിഞ്ഞ 20നു മുപ്പതു ദിവസം കൂടി നീട്ടിയിരുന്നു. അടിയന്തരാവസ്ഥ നീട്ടുന്നത് നിയമ വിരുദ്ധവും ഭരണഘടനാ ലംഘനവുമെന്നായിരുന്നു പ്രതിപക്ഷ ആരോപണം. തടവിലുള്ള പ്രതിപക്ഷ നേതാക്കളെ മോചിപ്പിക്കാന്‍ ഫെബ്രുവരി 2നു സുപ്രീം കോടതി ഉത്തരവിട്ടതോടെയാണ് മാലദ്വീപില്‍ പ്രതിസന്ധി ഉടലെടുക്കുന്നത്.