Maldives Tourism booming despite global economic crisis

	Fully booked till January

Maldives tourism industry is booming despite the current economic current crisis facing most countries, two of the biggest stakeholders of the industry have revealed.

Sales Manager of Universal Enterprises Shoumo Mukarjee informed that all resorts operated by Universal Group are fully booked till January and that so far there are no cancellations.

Ifaa speaking on behalf of Villa Hotels revealed that all resorts operated by Villa Group are fully booked till end of February and that there are no cancellations.

Despite the very encouraging season, both Villa and Universal groups are fully aware the current global recession and says that it is quite possible the Maldives may be affected. However they also expressed that every effort is being made to minimize the adverse effects of the global recession on Maldives tourism industry.

According to a report released in Berlin/ Germany by global tourism experts the industry will fully recover from the adverse effects of the current recession by 2010 and that 2011 and 2012 will be hopeful years which will set unprecedented records.

"Our challenge is to see through the pressures of today and prepare for a different world, but predicting the timing of the end of the current global economic crisis and the start of the recovery remains an even bigger challenge" said Rolf Freitag, President & CEO of IPK International in his summing up at the close of IPK’s annual World Travel Monitor Forum held on 6-7 November in San Giuliano Terme near Pisa, Italy.

"After four years of sustained strong growth, which continued through the month of May 2008, outbound travel demand slowed considerably from June, with growth slipping into negative figures from September in some region" the report revealed.

The financial crisis and the recession have clearly reached the international travel markets. Many airlines and tour operators have meanwhile reduced capacity for 2009. The majority of the experts gathered in Pisa believe that demand for international travel will be down by about 1% in 2009. But they also think that the crisis will not last longer than 12 to 18 months.

In an effort to counteract these, high end destinations have commenced introducing special packages. Experts predict that destinations which do not prepare to meet the challenges may face great economic difficulties.

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Bill to extend tourist resort lease period to 50 yrs submitted

	To encourage investments and growth

The newly appointed government of President Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) has submitted a bill to People’s Majlis to amend the Tourism Act to extend the lease of tourist resorts and other islands leased for industrial proposes to 50 years as a means to encourage investments and growth.

At the 18 sitting of the third session of the People’s Majlis held on Wednesday morning, the first reading of the proposed bill was held. After the first reading, the Chair announced that the second reading has been scheduled for Monday, 1 December 2008.

The government has been working to submit to such a bill to the Majlis for quite sometime. The bill aims to increase government earnings to offset the anticipated budget shortfalls and ease the difficulties faced with resort owners in finding adequate funding to develop the resorts. President Mohamed Nasheed while briefing the media on the proposed 2009 state budget has said that his government will be extending the lease of tourist resorts and other islands leased for industrial proposes to 50 years as a means to encourage investments and growth. Consequently a bill to amend the Tourism Act to facilitate lease of resort islands to 50 years was submitted to Majlis on Wednesday. Presently resorts are leased for a maximum period of 35 years if the investment is more than US$10 million. Investors have raised concern on the present lease period of resorts and other industrial islands saying sustainable investment was not possible because of the short leasing period and difficulties in getting soft finance for such projects.

The government in submitting the bill expressed that the main objective of the bill is to sustain the developments and progress of the tourism industry as well as to increase the government revenue. Sources inform that some parties are not happy to extend the lease period to 50 years, while industry stakeholders and investors have welcomed the move. The constitution states islands of Maldives can be leased for 90 years.

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Castaway with laundry service

	Experience that cements the Maldives' reputation

A surreal sight looms on the horizon as our speedboat hurtles out to sea. The smallest of tinnies, loaded high with tables and chairs, is being rowed towards a lick of white sand in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Progress is slow and the cargo looks crazily out of proportion to the boat beneath it. Earlier trips have ferried sun lounges and market umbrellas from a traditional dhoni anchored a couple of hundred metres away. Subsequent journeys will bring crates of ice, food, champagne, crockery and glassware. And staff, of course.

This is the Republic of Maldives, a paradise where nothing - not even a sit-down champagne lunch for six on a glorified sandbar - is too much trouble. We're staying at the newly opened Diva Island Resort and Spa on the South Ari Atoll, where the desert-island picnic is a particular lure for honeymooners. A couple can spend a day in splendid isolation, before using a mobile phone provided by the resort to summon a ride home to their over-water villa.

It's the kind of experience that cements the Maldives' reputation as a place where romantic dreams come true. Although water sports - especially snorkelling, diving and surfing - and family activities are significant attractions, there's a lot of loving going on in the Maldives and at times singles may well feel like the original gooseberry.

Reality hits when our underwater guide, Imran, leads us - six singles, as it happens -offshore for a snorkelling tour. There are fish in all colours, shapes and sizes and countless table corals, many more than a metre across. But the scene is like a beer garden after a drunken brawl: there are tables lying on their sides, upside down or smashed in two, a result of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that claimed 82 Maldivian lives, left more than 12,000 people homeless and pummelled the tourist industry. (Tourism and fishing underpin the economy in this Muslim nation of about 300,000 people.)

On South Male Atoll, at the resort of Cocoa Island, a snorkelling trip reveals similar carnage. As we paddle in 40 metres of water along the edge of a reef, our guide, Abdulla, pauses to point out turtles, lobsters, clams and fish, as well as the dead coral that litters the sea floor, like sun-bleached animal bones in an Australian drought. Happily, he says, new coral is forming.

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