DTIS, Volume I - Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF)

workers in comparable grades. Tourist resorts are by law restricted to employing a
maximum of 50 per cent expatriate staff, but there is evidence that adherence to this limit
is not widely respected.
Statistics on national employment in the private sector do not exist, however, MATI and
the MTCV estimate that as much as 13,990 Maldivians, constituting 14 per cent of the
labour force, is employed directly in the tourism sector. There is also indirect
employment from tourism in such areas as construction, air and sea transport, retailing,
and government services such as customs, immigration, airports, etc. The Ministry of
Higher Education, Employment, Labour and Social Security estimates the multiplier
effect to be in the range of 4-5. But a more realistic estimate is a multiplier of 1-2,
though no accurate information is available. It is noteworthy that VPA-2 found that
households with one or more members working in the tourism sector are more likely to
escape poverty than other households.
As in the fishery sector, there is a clear gender bias in tourism sector employment.
According to the available data, there are less than 200 Maldivian women and only about
350 expatriate women working in the tourism industry in 2003. This is an extremely low
proportion and is in sharp contrast to many other countries where women workers
dominate the tourism sector. Cultural and religious norms are part of the explanation.
However, the situation may also be attributed to the special characteristic of Maldivian
tourism in which almost self-contained resort islands is the dominant feature. Workers on
these islands are usually expected to live on site for up to 11 months of the year in
quarters, which were built to accommodate single men, rather than women and families.
The gender bias in tourism employment patterns is also reflected in enrolment of women
for training in hospitality and tourism studies provided by the FHTS of the Maldives
College of Higher Education. From very low levels in the late 1980s when the FHTS was
established, the enrolment of women has now risen to about a quarter of all enrolments.
Women trainees are typically enrolled in courses related to hotel front office functions
including reception, management, administration, as well as catering services.
III. Trade Implications
The Maldives has experienced significant reduction in absolute poverty. But levels of
vulnerability and inequality are dynamic with the atolls at greater risk than Male’, the
capital. While priority needs to be given to improving household welfare in the northern
atolls, a major policy challenge is not only to design programmes to elevate the poor, but
also to prevent the non-poor from sliding back into poverty. The most vulnerable group is
known to be women, who also experience the highest rate of unemployment. The main
trade implications of the country’s prevailing poverty profile is that as a small, tradedependent
economy, sustainable employment creation in the export sectors is required to
consolidate gains that have been made in poverty reduction and human development.
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