Birds Eye View OF MAldives
The Maldivian Presidents office has announced that the country had 67,478 Tourists for the month of January. This makes it the strongest January in Tourist arrivals for the past five years. The Maldives private and Tourism Board has been extensively marketing Maldives for the past five years, while Maldivian Resorts have consistently scooped up travel awards world wide.
Sim Mohamed from MATI ( Maldives Association of Tourism Industry) said that while tourist figured did increase significantly, there have been some drastic dynamic changes in the tourism industry. Sim said there has been alot of “surface arrivals” (i.e. passengers in passenger liners passing though Maldives in a relatively less amount of time ) and these passengers do not stay for the traditional periods of time and tend to spend less , thus injecting less money into the economy.
He Also noted due to the global down turn in tourism, many Maldivian Resorts and Tour Operators have drastically cut their prices , some as steep as 30- 40 percent. This together with the introduction of many Low Budget Airlines has Made Maldives a much cheaper Destination than before. While this has increased tourist numbers and generated more money for the economy as Maldivian Government Bed Tax the disposable income from Medium Tourism Market is less hence it would take some time for the whole economy as a whole to fully benefit from the increased Tourism Arrivals .
The Maldivian Tourism Industry has been in a slow growth rate, first the aftermath of the Tsunami then the global financial crisis, but this has prompted the Tour Operators to be more innovative. The Fastest growing sector in the Tourism Industry in Maldives is the Live Abroad sector. This gives an affordable Alternative To Travel,Dive and Surf in the MAldives at Cheaper Rates.
MATTI says its staying positive for the yrear 2010 forecasting modest growth , but hoping it would materialize to a more significant Tourism Growth for the years after that.