DTIS, Volume I - Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF)

CHAPTER 7
THE TOURISM SECTOR
Chapter Plan
This chapter begins by examining the distinctive features of the tourism product offered
by the Maldives before reviewing the main trends in the tourism sector focusing on such
issues as data on tourist arrivals, accommodation capacity, contribution to GDP and
linkages to the economy, foreign exchange earnings and leakages, employment, and
training. Following this is an outline of the policy and institutional support framework, an
assessment of constraints that need to be addressed, and recommendations for inclusion
in the DTIS action matrix.
I. Distinctive Features of the Maldives Tourism Product
Very few countries in the world can offer tourists an exotic atoll environment, and even
fewer countries in the world are made up of coral platforms, with the accompanying
image of Robinson Cruise islands and islets with white sandy beaches, unpolluted crystal
clear water and abundant marine life. The Maldives has taken maximum advantage of
these endowments and generated a unique tourism product focusing on the marine and
atoll environment. The geographical location of the Maldives in the middle of the Indian
Ocean makes the destination easily accessible by long-haul aircraft from Europe, East
Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and even South Africa. Although the North American
market is more remote as compared to the Caribbean, promotion of the Maldives in North
America can generate interest among tourists looking for more unfamiliar destinations.
The Maldives comprises a total of 26 atolls spreading like a string of pearls over almost
one million sq km, and a distance of about 870 km from Addu Atoll half a degree South
of Equator to North Thiladhunmathee Atoll 7½ degrees North. The atolls are made up of
a total of 1,190 islands and islets, of which only 200 are inhabited.
By way of curiosity, atoll is derived from the Maldivian word atholhu, the only
Maldivian word that has become international. It identifies an atoll as a number of islands
sharing a common outer reef; there can be one island to several hundreds of islands
forming an atoll.
Over time, the Maldives has developed and perfected the concept of ‘one island – one
resort’ with a tourist resort occupying a separate island, and being fully self-contained in
terms of electricity, water supply, sewage, employee accommodation, laundry, recreation
facilities, etc. The self-contained resort concept has been developed from simple thatched
cottages in the early 1970s to extravagant and sophisticated five-star resorts featuring
luxury villas.
92