By P. K. Balachandran
COLOMBO – Tourism is blooming in the Maldives in the midst of COVID-19 cases with the India Ocean archipelago receiving its 100,000th tourist this month since the tourism sector began to be opened up in July.
The country has recorded 13,392 COVID-19 positive cases (3.3% of the country’s population of 400,000) since the outbreak in March. Of these 12, 760 had recovered and 48 (or 0.35% of those infected) had died.
In contrast, Sri Lanka has still not opened up its tourist sector, though only 36, 929 out of 21 million population (0.17%) have been infected, 28, 267 have recovered and 171 (0.4%) have died.
Maldives reopened its borders to international passengers on July 15, nearly four months after the first case was detected. Guesthouses were permitted to resume operations and kick start local tourism on October 15.
Although Maldives has noted a significant reduction in tourist arrivals compared to pre-COVID figures, there has been a gradual increase with the establishment of travel bubbles between Maldives and other countries, as well as greater connectivity in terms of flight operations, local media reported.
At present, over 18 airlines are managing flights to and from Maldives. It is anticipated that Maldives will reach peak arrival rates during the year of 2021.
In addition to lifting curfew hours, the quarantine period was reduced to 10 days. Mandatory quarantine for locals returning to Maldives and for locals travelling to resorts were abolished.
Over the last month, Maldives’ has observed a decline in the number of individuals testing positive for COVID-19, with daily records indicating an average of 50 cases per day.
According to official statistics, 32,212 tourist beds are in operation across 138 resorts and yacht marinas. Of these 3,088 beds are in service at 170 guest houses, 848 beds at eight hotels, as well as 2,497 beds in 129 liveaboards (accommodation in boats). Three additional resorts, with 476 beds, are expected to come into operational status before the end of the year.
The most number of guest houses are currently in operation in the Greater Male’ Region, with 72 guest houses offering 1,606 beds in total. While 48 guest houses with 656 beds are in operation in Alif Alif Atoll, Thoddoo island, with 23 guest house has the most number of guest houses, and 17 guest houses are open offering 776 beds in Maafushi.
Over 600 guest houses and 150 resorts were in operation in the Maldives prior to border closing. The total number of beds available at the facilities were over 50,000. Out of these, 38,645 beds are now in operation.
Russia is one of the biggest markets for Maldivian tourism. According to statistics released by the country’s tourism ministry, 46,065 Russian tourists have visited the Maldives since the archipelago reopened its borders in July. This is equivalent to 10% of total arrivals in 2020, and accounts for 20.7% of tourism arrivals post border reopening. The increase in the number of Russian tourists is mainly due to the increasing number of airlines operating to the Maldives from the Russian region.
At present 19 airlines are operating to the Maldives, and the country is registering over 4,000 daily arrivals.
-ENCL