The Minister of Tourism and Environment, Thoriq Ibrahim stated that marketing drives will be conducted in order to minimise the impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East on tourist numbers.
The Minister made the remarks while speaking at a press conference held by the Special Cabinet Committee set up by the President in response to developments in the Middle East and assess their possible negative impacts on Maldives’ economy. The minister detailed efforts made to cushion the tourism industry from the decrease in arrivals caused by flight disruptions.
Minister Thoriq revealed that, according to the information received from the stakeholders in the tourism industry, the majority of booking cancellations were for March and April, with data showing increased bookings after April. Therefore, the tourism sector is working to compensate for losses incurred in these two months.
“We are working with the industry to make up for the dip in these two months. For instance, one option was the option for rebooking without any additional fees as was done by several resorts. Due to this, many tourists have been rebooking stays rather than cancelling outright.” Minister Thoriq stated.
He detailed that promotional campaigns planned by the government will focus on the countries with the greatest share of tourist arrivals to the Maldives. This efforts will be made in collaboration with the Maldivian embassies in the respective countries.
“Work will be done particularly focused on marketing, in collaboration with embassies of certain countries. God willing, we will launch marketing efforts from early next month targeting India, China and Russian markets” The Minister added.
Due to the start of the Middle East conflict on February 28th, the airspace in the region has been closed. The island nation has felt the impact of flight cancellations as this is a frequent transit hub for tourists coming to the Maldives.
Data released by the government shows that daily, about 30 percent of tourists on route to the Maldives come via the Middle east. This is about 3,000 tourists, the Ministry of Tourism and Environment has stated.