The government will realign tourism promotion efforts to other regions to minimise impact from the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the Minister of Tourism and Environment Thoriq Ibrahim has said.
Speaking on PSM News’ ‘Raajje Miadhu’ programme, Minister Thoriq stressed on the need to expand tourism source markets from traditional markets.
According to the Minister, the government is working closely with tourist stakeholders including travel agents, resorts and airlines to expand the country’s tourism horizons.
Despite several flight cancellations and major delays over the conflict between Iran and Israel, there has not been a discernible impact on tourist arrivals thus far, he said.
"It seems to me like a wake-up call to shift focus to other directions, other areas for tourism promotion. We will hopefully work on that. Next year's budget and the MMPRC [Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation] budget will try to focus more on other regions,” he explained.
Minister Thoriq also highlighted the importance of exploring next steps in the light of such experiences, adding that there was immense potential for Maldives if it can venture away from traditional tourism markets.
"If things like this happen in war, there will be major reverberations. If tourism can be promoted in other destinations based on those shocks, the opportunities are limitless,” he said.
To complement efforts to attract tourists from more regions, the capacity will increase significantly with the airports being developed in various parts of the country, Minister Thoriq said.
The Minister also said that the new passenger terminal at Velana International Airport (VIA) will significantly boost its ability to attract more international airlines to the Maldives.
The government aims to attract 2.3 million tourists this year. So far, about 1.08 million tourists have visited Maldives in the first six months.