Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb has stated that 2016 will be a promising year for Maldivian Tourism.
He made the statements speaking in the 27th Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and Pacific (CAP) and the UNWTO Commission for South Asia (CSA) & UNWTO Regional Ministerial Conference on Positioning Tourism in a Wider Socio-economic Context which was held in Bandos Island Resort.
Minister Adeeb noted that 2014 was a successful year for Tourism, noting that the tourist visitor arrival rates had bypassed the 1.2 million visitor target set for the year.
He added due to the issues facing the Russain market, the sector may not yield the desired targets for this year. However, he stated that he was confident that the sector would pick up in the coming year.
Minister Adeeb stated in spite of the calls to boycott Maldivian tourism, the sector was robust and promising. He attributed this to the hard work carried out by MMPRC to promote the sector in foreign markets.
President Abdullah Yameen had officially launched the logo and website for 2016, which has been declared as tourist arrival year.
Adeeb also noted that 2016 would be a year when the sector expanded with more beds up for tourists.