Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Mohamed Ameen has said that the Maldives has made significant progress in recovering from the impact of the Middle East conflict on the country’s tourism industry, with a major improvement expected in the final quarter of the year.
Speaking at a press meeting held by the President’s Office, the Minister shared the government’s ongoing efforts to revive the tourism industry and the progress achieved so far.
Minister Ameen said the Middle East conflict had a significant impact on the tourism industry from March through June.
However, he said the situation had improved considerably as a result of efforts undertaken by a ministerial committee established by the government, in collaboration with industry stakeholders. He added that the outlook for the final quarter of the year was encouraging.
“During this period, the tourism industry experienced a 24 per cent decline. However, we have now been recovering from that decline, bringing it close to 2.6 per cent. There is strong optimism for the final quarter. Arrivals are not expected to be lower than in the final quarter of last year,” the Minister said.
The government’s target for this year is to bring 2.5 million tourists to the Maldives. However, Ameen noted that the circumstances faced by the country were linked to changes affecting industries around the world, with many of the factors being beyond the Maldives’ control.
Nevertheless, he said the results of the work carried out by the Maldives in collaboration with the tourism industry had been very positive, and expressed confidence that the success would improve significantly during the final quarter of the year. He also said that seven additional airlines are scheduled to operate flights to the Maldives during the current season.
“Russia, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Armenia, Ethiopian Airlines, France and Kuwait Airways will operate flights. Some airlines will also operate additional flights,” the Minister said.
The Maldives has set a target of welcoming 2.5 million tourists this year. So far, 1.4 million tourists have visited the country.
Having overcome the challenges it faced, the Maldives is now working to tap into additional markets and undertaking extensive promotional activities to attract more tourists.