Minister urges against actions that could adversely impact tourism

Tourism Minister Ibrahim Faisal has made an appeal to all Maldivian citizens – urging against any action that may adversely impact the nation’s rich tourism sector.

He made the appeal in an address to the nation on the occasion of World Tourism Day.

The theme for this year’s World Tourism Day is ‘Tourism and Peace’.

After extending greetings on the occasions, Minister Faisal underscored the need for everyone to be mindful of the nation’s stability as Maldives is a country heavily reliant on tourism. As such, he stressed that any negative action from Maldivians will have the deepest impact on tourism – especially if it comes to the attention of the world.

“I want to see the day where no Maldivian citizens’ actions could adversely impact tourism and the development of the sector with the participation of citizens to the greatest extent possible,” he added.

Speaking further, Minister Faisal said he, under the guidance of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, will undertake all efforts necessary to develop the tourism sector in the course of these five years.

In this trajectory, he said the new terminal at Velana International Airport (VIA) will be inaugurated in December which will allow to accommodate 7.5 million tourists per year. He detailed that the new terminal will pave the way for a significant boost in tourism starting next year which see the number of tourist arrivals to the Maldives increase by each day.

“By the will of Almighty, we will succeed in our target goal to take tourist arrivals to the Maldives to 3.5 million or 4 million within these five years,” he stressed.

Minister Faisal noted that Maldives has welcomed 1.5 million tourists so far this year which is an increase by 238,000 tourists compared to the same period last year. He added that the figures show that Maldives is expected to reach the target goal of 2 million tourist arrivals by the end of this year.

Apart from this, the Minister detailed that significant efforts were being undertaken to promote Maldives as a tourist destination in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. These efforts, as per the Minister, include the promotion of Maldives to international markets and fostering new tourist markets to the Maldives.

He expressed his strong desire to see large numbers of youth join the sector and invest in the sector, emphasizing that it was an aim to ensure Maldivians are employed in senior posts in the sector.