Maldives and China Signs Collaboration Agreement to Strengthen Security of Tourism Sector


Maldives
PUBLISHED July 04, 2018

The Maldives and China have signed a collaboration agreement to enhance the security and safety of the tourism sector. 


The agreement was signed between the Secretary-General of Maldives Association of Tourism Industries (MATI) Ahmed Nazeer and Secretary General of China Association of Travel Services Sun Guizan at the Forum on China Maldives Tourism Cooperation held to explore ways of having support for both nations in the area of tourism and Investment opportunities.


According to the Secretary-General of MATI Ahmed Nazeer,  the agreement is a crucial step forward in sustaining Chinese market in the Maldives. He also revealed that important information regarding Maldivian tourism would be publicised as agreed while noting that Chinese market is among the top tourist arrivals of Maldives.


Under the agreement, both countries will put on joint efforts to develop Maldivian tourism and discussions will be held on exploring training opportunities as well as to explore projects that can be conducted by two countries.


The latest figures released by the Maldives tourism ministry claims that China continued its downward spiral in October as well with a 2.6 percent drop. Taking into account the latest decline, arrivals from China have decreased 8.2 percent in the past ten months of this year compared to the same period of last year.


After years of double-digit growth in tourism, the Maldives has over the recent years observed a slowdown in growth. The government has set an ambitious target of attracting 1.5 million tourists by the end of this year, but the country has been struggling to create demand amidst a significant increase in bed capacity.


Along with the new resort openings comes the challenge of increasing demand from budget travellers who choose guesthouses over luxury resorts that the Maldives is known for. The guesthouse sector has rapidly expanded to over 450 guesthouses in operation today.

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