140 New Resort Islands Under Development in the Maldives


Maldives
PUBLISHED November 28, 2018

The government of the Maldives has announced that a total of 132 tourism projects involving 140 islands are being carried out across the Maldives.

According to the Minister of Tourism, Honorable Ali Waheed, development of 54 out of the 140 islands had come to a halt due to several reasons. However, construction of resorts on 93 of the islands are underway, he noted.

Referring to the statistics from the tourism ministry's planning department, the minister said another 13 islands, four lagoons and two land plots had been put up for bids but are yet to be leased. He added that additional three islands had been approved by the Presidents Office for tourism development but are pending gazette announcement.

The minister further revealed that 144 resorts, 12 hotels, 508 guesthouses and 148 liveaboard vessels have been registered and that the number of registered travel agencies and dive schools stand at 308 and 272 respectively.

The government has pledged to promote and enhance the tourism sector of the Maldives with new initiatives and more funding.

Dozens of uninhabited islands to local and foreign resort developers over the past five years and a number of international brands have entered into the Maldivian market increasing the number of resorts. More resorts are expected to open over the next two years, increasing the numbers yet again.

Along with the new resort openings, the guesthouse sector is also rapidly expanding in order to meet the increasing demand from budget travellers who choose guesthouses over luxury resorts that the Maldives is known for.

The Maldives welcomed the one-millionth visitor of 2018 in September. Efforts have been taken this year to increase the promotion of the destination in key markets such as China and the Middle East in order to reach an ambitious target of a record 1.5 million tourist arrivals.

According to the latest figures, total arrivals for the past 10 months of the year increased by 7.3 per cent to reach 1,207,852 compared to the 1,125,995 in the same period of last year.
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