Maldives Tourism Minister Mr. Ali Waheed has claimed that the development work of 140 more resorts are in progress currently while the country already has 144 registered resort outlets.
The new tourism minister of the recently officiated administration made the statement during a press conference held at the respective ministry. Mr. Waheed noted that under 132 distinct resort development projects a total of 140 resort outlets are being developed.
Minister Mr. Waheed also noted that 54 development projects out of the total are currently stagnant due several circumstances.
“From the mentioned development projects, 93 resorts are currently under construction,” Mr. Waheed noted during his first press conference after getting appointed to office.
Furthermore, tourism minister confirmed Maldives currently has 12 registered hotels, 508 operating guesthouses and 148 safari vessels. In addition to this the island nation has 308 travel agencies registered under the ministry while 272 dive schools are in operation.
Moreover, minister Mr. Waheed revealed 13 islands, 4 lagoons and two land plots have been put on gazette by the then government. However, these properties have not been leased or sold to any party. Minister had further gone on to state that under previous administration three islands for possible resort development have been permitted by president’s office but did not proceed to gazette.
Minister had assured his primary initiative as the new tourism minister will be solidify the industry and ensure tourism sector was profitable and generated the maximum of the country’s revenue.
Meanwhile Maldives was visited by a total of 1,207,852 tourists by October 2018 whereas in 2017 of the same period the guest visit count reached 1,125,995.