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Maldives Hotels and Beach Resorts
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In recent years, Maldives has successfully marketed its natural assets for tourism--beautiful, unpolluted beaches on small coral islands, diving in blue waters abundant with tropical fish, and glorious sunsets. Tourism now brings in about $400 million a year. Tourism and related services contributed 28% of GDP in 2006. Tourism is the largest economic industry in the Maldives, as it plays an important role in earning foreign exchange revenues and generating employment in the tertiary sector of the country. The archipelago of the Maldives is the main source of attraction to many tourists visiting the country worldwide. Tourism began in the Maldives relatively late. A United Nations mission on development which visited the maldive Islands in the 1960s didn't recommend tourism, claiming that the islands were not suitable. Only at the beginning of the 1970s some islands were converted into tourist resorts. The first tourist facilities were in Kurumba, Vilingili and Bandos, all in the immediate vivinity of Male'. As the Hulhule airport developed, the tourist arrivals increased and so did the number of islands converted into tourist resorts. By the end of the 1970s the tourist industry had become extremely successful and became one of the main pillars of the economy of the Maldives, as well as its main provider of jobs. Since the first resort was established in 1972, more than 87 islands have been developed, with a total capacity of some 17,000 beds. Maldives has embarked on a rapid tourism expansion plan. The government has awarded tenders for the development of 41 resorts. Over 650,000 tourists (mainly from Europe) visited Maldives in 2006. The average occupancy rate is over 80%, and reaches over 95% in the peak winter tourist season. Average tourist stay is 8 days. NATURAL BEAUTY OVERVIEW
OF TROPICAL RESORT These islands developed for tourism are approximately 800 by 200 metres in size and are composed of sand and coral to a maximum height of about 2 metres above the sea. In addition to its beach encircling the island, each island has its own "house reef" which serves as a coral garden and natural aquarium for scuba divers and snorkelers. The shallow water enclosed by the house reef also serves as a large natural swimming pool and protects swimmers from the ocean waves and strong tidal currents outside the house reef. The buildings on a typical resort includes rooms and suites
reserved for use by its guests, restaurants, cafes, shops, lounges, bars,
discos and dive schools. A portion of the island also contains staff lodgings
and support services such as catering, power generators, laundry, and
a sewerage plant. On-island shops offer a wide range of products, such
as souvenirs and artifacts. The resorts offer a wide variety of activities
such as aerobics, volleyball and table tennis.
ECOTOURISM Furthermore, the government aims to conserve the natural beauty of the islands before they are being altered into resorts by enforcing laws such as prohibition of catching turtles and reduction in the damages caused to the coral reefs. Tourism sector attracts foreign investment in Maldives In Maldives the resorts are self contained island communities with all the amenities on the island. Each of these small islands is a resort. The government leases these islands to private parties to develop as tourist resorts. Bidding of the islands are regulated under Maldives Tourism Act 1999. Under this Act any island which is to be developed as a resort shall go on public bid. The bid document is issued by the Ministry of Tourism and it has to be submitted to the ministry before allocated time for each bidding process. The winning bidder is decided based on certain criteria they have set. This year Maldives government annouced that they will lease 35 islands for resort development. Bid documents are available from the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. As tourism sector is a wide industry there are scope for investments in many different related activities such as supply of goods and other services to this industry. FOREIGN RELATIONS U.S. MALDIVIAN RELATIONS U.S. contributions to economic development in the Maldives have been made principally through international organization programs. Following the December 2004 tsunami, the U.S. and Maldives signed a bilateral assistance agreement for $8.6 million in reconstruction assistance. This assistance will help in the rebuilding of harbors, sewerage systems, electrical generation facilities and in the development of aid absorption capacity in the Ministry of Finance. The United States has directly funded training in airport management and narcotics interdiction and provided desktop computers for Maldivian customs, immigration, and drug-control efforts in recent years. The United States also trains a small number of Maldivian military personnel annually. About 10 U.S. citizens are resident in the Maldives; some 5,000 Americans visit the Maldives annually. The Maldives welcomes foreign investment, although the ambiguity of codified law acts as somewhat of a damper. Areas of opportunity for U.S. businesses include tourism, construction, and simple export-oriented manufacturing, such as garments and electrical appliance assembly. There is a shortage of local skilled labor, and most industrial labor has to be imported from Sri Lanka or elsewhere.
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