Maldives urges Indians to be a part of its tourism
“Please be a part of the Maldives’ tourism. Our economy depends on tourism,” Ibrahim Faisal, the minister of tourism for the Maldives recently made an appeal to Indian travelers after the Maldives experiencing a sharp drop in Indian visitor arrivals since the diplomatic spat between the two nations broke out in January.
Tourism Minister Ibrahim Faisal stated that the newly elected government aspires to work with India, highlighting the history shared between the Maldives and India.
After three Maldivian officials made disparaging remarks about India and Prime Minister Modi shared pictures of the Lakshadweep Islands on his X handle recently, hundreds of Indians had canceled their plans to travel to the Maldives.
The number of tourists visiting the island nation has decreased by 42% since January. Between January and May of last year, there were 73,785 Indian visitors to the Maldives, compared to 42,638 this year.
Also read: 5,457 illegal immigrants detected in Manipur, says CM N Biren Singh
As per the daily data issued by the island nation’s Ministry of Tourism on March 4, India dropped to the sixth position on the ‘Top 10 Markets’ list of Maldives tourism.
Following Mohamed Muizzu’s election as Maldives President, India’s standing in the Maldives tourism rankings has been consistently declining.
Following statistics from the Maldivian Tourism Ministry that indicated how India fell from being a top visitor country to sixth place, Tourism Minister Faisal’s comment during an interview was the latest in a series of initiatives by the Maldives to woo Indian tourists again.
Also read: Protests erupt as Hardeep Nijjar murder accused appear in Canada court
India-Maldives bilateral relations
Maldives and India are neighbors that share a sea border. When it comes to military, economic, and strategic collaboration, relations have been cordial and close. India continues to support the island nation financially and by helping to maintain security.
After the Prime Minister Modi’s recent visit to Lakshadweep, three Maldivian deputy ministers in the Ministry of Youth Affairs made disparaging remarks about India and the Prime Minister, which soured relations between the two countries.
The ministers’ remarks provoked backlash in India, where a number of well-known figures urged people to consider visiting their own country instead of going to the Maldives.
At the same time, the number of Chinese visitors to Maldives has sharply increased.
Situation four months ago was very different. China came in third place among international visitors to the Maldives in 2023, with Indians making up the largest group.
