Tourist arrivals for first five months 2012 increased compared with corresponding period 2011: Maleeh Jamal

Ministry of tourism has revealed, at a time when a group of Maldivians are calling to boycott the tourism industry, that tourist arrivals for the first five months of this year are higher than that for the corresponding period last year.

Deputy Minister of Tourism Mohamed Maleeh Jamal said at a press conference today that as at 31 May, tourist arrivals stood at 398000, which is an increase of 1.7 percent when compared with last year.

Half a million tourists are estimated to arrive by the end of next month.

Maleeh Jamal mentioned that the Ministry hopes to reach the target of one million tourists by the end of the year.

Efforts to reach this target, such as promotion on BBC and participation in road shows in various countries, are ongoing.

He added that the government had to make extra effort to convey the correct information to the world about Maldives, due to a group of people carrying out negative campaigns about Maldives to international media.

Minister of Tourism Ahmed Adheeb said that the group had been active since February this year, calling to boycott tourism in Maldives and holding campaigns in several countries to prevent tourists from visiting Maldives; nonetheless, the results of the government’s efforts to fight these negative campaigns will be evident before the end of this month.

Adheeb also noted that there is a group of people who are concerned about the progress made by the Maldivian tourism industry.

“This group sent nasty emails to BBC, following our agreement with the BBC to promote Maldives. They asked in their emails, ‘why would you go into an agreement with such a government?’” Adheeb said.

Currently, tourist arrival is highest from China. Europe accounts for 60 percent of tourist arrivals in Maldives, while Middle East and Asia account for 40 percent.