MALDIVES - Waving or drowning?

Financialexpress.com, January 07, 2007

The boom has ridden out the tsunami, which seemed at the time to threaten the entire industry. Nearly a quarter of the resorts had to suspend operations. Occupancy rates for 2005 fell to 64% from 2004’s 84%, but by last year had recovered. For hoteliers, the Maldives must indeed seem like paradise. One, recently transferred from Fiji, is still rubbing his hands in glee at the margins available on selling drinks. Mr Didi, however, insists that things are not as good as they look. High prices are largely a result of transport costs: “We make nothing in the Maldives except fish.”
Lonely Planet
That is why tourism makes up a big chunk of the Maldives economy—about one-third of GDP. This share will almost certainly rise. A further 53 resorts are at different stages of planning and approval. Malcontents still grumble that the potential is being squandered. Mohammed Latheef, an opposition leader, says the Maldives should be comparing its wealth with, say, Singapore’s rather than India’s.

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MALDIVES - Welcome to paradise

The Guardian, 18-12-2006

For holiday-makers, the Maldives are an idyllic retreat. But among the islanders there is increasing anger at a repressive regime. There's a cafe just outside arrivals at Hulhulé airport. Sit at one of the little aluminum tables, under the sign reminding passengers of the harsh penalties for drug traffickers, and you'll see the holiday-makers arrive.

The ones on the cheaper packages - families and budget divers - wait for their holiday reps. The richer types, perma-tanned middle-aged couples and upscale honeymooners, are greeted by neatly-uniformed men who whisk them off in speedboats to islands with $3,000-a-night water villas, personal butlers, infinity pools and brochure copy peppered with phrases such as "redefining luxury".

These are the places you read about in travel pages, usually under headlines containing the word "paradise". You may have noticed that you read about paradise rather a lot. There always seems to be a free trip for a writer to suffer a week of pampering in return for a few bland paragraphs. You may have also noticed what's missing from all those articles: people.

The Maldives of the travel brochures is an eerie place, a culture-free series of coral dots adrift on a deep blue sea. This is no accident. Tourism here is a highly regulated activity: visitors and locals are carefully segregated. By law, resorts are located on uninhabited islands and you need written permission to stay elsewhere. Most people arrive and leave without knowing where they really are.

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MALDIVES - South of Maldives looks ahead to tourism expansion

eTN, 28-11-2006

Plans to develop the most remote part of the Maldives into a new tourist zone have been unveiled to the tourism industry in London. The project will bring prosperity and new jobs to Addu Atoll, and particularly the island of Gan, in the southern-most part of the Maldives.

New career opportunities in the hotel and catering sector and demand for local expertise and opportunities to sample Maldivian culture will boost employment for the islanders and will contribute to the overall growth of the economy of the region, where there is an enduring longing and welcome for visitors especially from Great Britain.

Gan is a former British military base and the former Royal Air Force station is currently used as an airport for domestic flights from the capital Malé. Gan airport is being upgraded to international standards and could be ready to receive direct flights from London next year. The Maldives Tourism Development Board is in talks with charter flight operators in the UK and one well-known company has already been signed up.

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