DTIS, Volume I - Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF)

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The Maldives, like Tahiti (French Polynesia), has developed the concept of over-water villas, built on stilts on sandy banks in shallow lagoons, enabling an even closer proximity to the marine environment. Furthermore, in an attempt to broaden its product base, the Maldives have over the past 10 to 15 years offered an increasing number of floating beds on live-aboard safari vessels. The magnificent marine environment with an abundance of both coral and colourful fish has helped develop the Maldives into one of the world’s top diving destinations. At the same time, the many shallow lagoons and easily accessible coral reefs also make the Maldives ideal for snorkeling by the general interest tourist who is primarily attracted by the tropical climate, the coral, white sandy beaches, and the ambience of the islands. In addition, whale, shark and dolphin watching have increased in popularity. Moreover, given the many low-lying islands and coral reefs, the Maldives offer almost year-round ideal conditions for surfing, a niche market that is currently growing considerably. The Maldives is also an expanding niche market for spa and health tourism, safari cruise tourism, and others. An added experience of the Maldivian tourism product is the smallness of the islands, with the international airport built on a separate island, Hulumale, and the need to be transferred to the accommodation (island), either by speedboat or seaplane. II. Main Trends in the Tourism Sector A. TOURIST ARRIVALS The volume of international tourism measured in terms of international tourist arrivals in the Maldives increased from about 114,500 in 1985 to more than 615,000 in 2004, corresponding to an impressive annual average growth of 9.3 per cent over two decades. The high growth rate becomes even more impressive when compared with global and regional trends. During the same time-frame, global tourism, regarded as one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, recorded an average annual growth rate of 4.3 per cent from about 322 million international tourist arrivals in 1985 to some 691 million in 2003. The Maldives tourist arrival growth rate is also higher than in the Asia Pacific region, which has been the fastest growing tourism region in the world, increasing from 33.6 million in 1985 to almost 120 million in 2003, an average annual growth rate of 7.8 per cent. Tourists visiting the Maldives come mainly from Europe, which accounts for 70-77 per cent of the total number of arrivals. However, the importance of individual European markets has shifted considerably. Thus the German market that dominated tourism in the Maldives in the 1980s and most of 1990s was overtaken by Italy in 1998 and by the 93
British market in 2001. In 2004, before the tsunami, Italy, with over 130,000 tourists, accounted for 22 per cent of the total of 616,716 tourists that year. British tourists numbered about 114,000, accounting for 18.5 per cent, followed by Germany with about 73,000 tourists, or 11.8 percent of the total. Before the tsunami, France recorded a doubling in tourist numbers over five years from about 23,000 in 1999 to more than 46,000 in 2004. Switzerland also recorded considerable growth during the 1990s, almost tripling its number of tourists from about 11,000 in 1990 to some 30,000 in 2004. Similarly, Russia has recorded tremendous growth in recent years from 3,600 in 2000 to more than 18,000 in 2004. Asian tourist arrivals increased from about 37,000 in 1990 to 117,000 in 2004 but its proportion of the total volume of tourism has remained static at around 19 per cent. Japan has the largest share of the Asian market, accounting for about 40 per cent and 7-8 per cent of the total number of tourists in 2004. Almost 47,000 Japanese tourist arrivals were recorded in 2004. B. ACCOMODATION CAPACITY Accommodation capacity of the tourism sector increased from a little less than 6,000 bed spaces in 1985 to almost 20,000 (19,565) in 2004. The capacity comprises a total of 236 accommodation facilities. Of these, the 87 resort islands account for 36 per cent of the number of establishments, but more than 86 per cent of the bed capacity with almost 17,000 bed spaces. Eight hotels, located mainly in the capital of Male’, have 3.3 per cent of total bed capacity with 636 beds, while there are 28 guesthouses with a capacity of 425 beds. Finally, 113 registered safari vessels have a total bed capacity of 1,676, corresponding to 8.6 per cent of the total bed capacity. On average, resort islands and hotels have a capacity of just fewer than 80 beds, corresponding to about 40 rooms. By contrast, safari vessels and guesthouses provide on average a capacity of 14-15 beds, corresponding to 7 double rooms. The government mainly by means of tenders for lease of resort islands has tightly controlled the development of the accommodation capacity. With apparently inelastic demand for a Maldivian holiday, this control of supply of accommodation facilities has perhaps contributed to healthy occupancy rates of the resorts and profitability C. CONTRIBUTION TO GDP AND LINKAGES TO THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY For over 30 years, the tourism sector has been the driving force behind economic growth in the Maldives but there is scope for forging even stronger linkages with other sectors in the economy. Tourism contributes significantly to the Maldives’ GDP. Of the total GDP of Rf. 7,586 million (USD 644 million) in 2003, the Ministry of Planning and National Development 94
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FINAL R E P O R T Volume 1 MALDIVES
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GSP HACCP HDFC HDI HIES HH HRD HS I
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TRIPS TRTA TSA TTMP UAE UK UNCTAD U
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CHAPTER 6: CUSTOMS SERVICES AND TRA
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major stakeholders as the basis of
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C. ECONOMIC TRENDS Buoyant GDP grow
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WTO members (through the Committee
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The recommendations cover these iss
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Requirements Action no. Action reco
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government, and lawmakers are elect
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. 4
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to Sri Lanka. However, by 2004 the
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This relatively high proportion of
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On an annual basis, total NFA of th
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elow provides data on the public in
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According to the estimates prepared
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Table 2.8: Damage to agricultural f
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II. Imports - Merchandise There has
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the relatively high rate of unemplo
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A. DESTINATION OF MERCHANDISE EXPOR
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Penetration of international market
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Overall, the importance of foreign
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on goods deemed luxury goods (e.g.
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the Japan and USA markets. 11 Fish
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The Modalities provide that the res
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emoved. However, in order to provid
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EBA. Appropriate transition arrange
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Several provisions such as Article
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CHAPTER 4 POVERTY REDUCTION AND HUM
Page 65 and 66: Table 4.2: Poverty Gap Ratios per R
Page 67 and 68: produced locally and are readily av
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Page 71 and 72: Table 4.3: Fishery Sector employmen
Page 73 and 74: This also requires policies that ta
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Page 77 and 78: Applying for a license to invest in
Page 79 and 80: E. MINISTRY OF FISHERIES, AGRICULTU
Page 81 and 82: K. PRIVATE SECTOR STAKEHOLDERS Priv
Page 83 and 84: Overall, it is estimated that the c
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Page 87 and 88: difficult to reach given the except
Page 89 and 90: system of micro-credit intermediari
Page 91 and 92: F. LAND, RAW MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES
Page 93 and 94: B. LABOUR MARKET REFORM About 44 pe
Page 95 and 96: Appendix The mixed record of the Ma
Page 97 and 98: legislation incorporates the initia
Page 99 and 100: CHAPTER 6 CUSTOMS SERVICES AND TRAN
Page 101 and 102: Maldives Port Authority • Respons
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Page 105 and 106: suspense procedures, thus eliminati
Page 107 and 108: A new domestic terminal at MIA will
Page 109 and 110: There is need to clarify MAC’s na
Page 111 and 112: Changes in the role and structure o
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Page 119 and 120: Similarly, considerable demand was
Page 121 and 122: for imports of support infrastructu
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Page 125 and 126: number of trainees that have been t
Page 127 and 128: established as a quality tourism de
Page 129 and 130: Maldives' unspoiled marine environm
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Page 137 and 138: D. ESTABLISH AN ENABLING BUSINESS E
Page 139 and 140: Main Recommendation No. 5: review a
Page 141 and 142: Main Recommendation No. 6: Scale-up
Page 143 and 144: CHAPTER 8 FISHERY SECTOR Chapter Pl
Page 145 and 146: processing under-performing more th
Page 147 and 148: per cent - see Table 8.4. The secto
Page 149 and 150: In the light of these market trends
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Page 153 and 154: monitoring and evaluation dates fro
Page 155 and 156: and catering industry chefs demand
Page 157 and 158: It is expected that the trial fishe
Page 159 and 160: • Can seaming and retorting; •
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DTIS, Volume I - Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF)

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