The Revelation of an Ambitious Target to Hit 2 Million Tourist Arrival by 2023 by Maldives!
Maldives is one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world proudly welcome millions of tourists every year, however, things took an unexpected turn this year due to the widespread of coronavirus in the country and the rest of the world. After a travel ban lasting almost four months, the country welcomed its first tourist back since the pandemic on 15th July, effectively marking the beginning of recovery of the its prestigious tourism industry.
As of 25th November, a total number of 450,411 tourist arrivals had been recorded with 67,584 arrivals counted post border reopening. Speaking at a webinar held last month, the Minister of Tourism, Dr. Abdulla Mausoom revealed that tourist industry experts were anticipating the arrival of 100k tourists during the remainder of the year. Whilst we are at the end of November, it is likely that we could hit the target especially considering the fact that the winter holidays are a peak season.
Speaking at the TTM Travel Summit 2020, the Minister has further revealed ambitious goals to hit 2 million tourist arrivals mark by the year 2023. To reach this target, the Minister requests collaborative work between tourism industry partners.
In enhancing the number of tourists, he stresses on the importance of developing local tourism. A landmark reached in this segment this year is as he points out the, the launched of the website “islands.mv” providing detailed information about the islands in Maldives. Island councils will also be undertaking an active role as a marketing body for their respective islands and will work hand-in-hand with tourist establishments in the island. The government will also work on diverting international connectivity straight to Southern and Northern airports to link transport routes. But, the capacity to our main airport, Velana International Airport at Male’ City will also be increased.
Additionally, the Minister vows to create room to develop marketing tools and strategies for the industry partners believing in their creative mindsets. The Ministry will also be venturing in to niche areas such as cultural and ecological tourism due to the emergence of “social impact travel” integrated by current travelers.
Hence, the successful implementation of these plans in addition to many other more to come, we are hopeful that we will reach the target.
(Cover Photo: MoT)