Tourism: Indians shun the pro-China Maldives, make it feel the pain
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Four months after electing Mohamed Muizzu as their President, the Maldivians are ruing the day they got carried away with his “India Go Back” slogan. The island nation, now firmly pro-China, is feeling the pinch as a large number of Indian tourists are shunning it.
Amid the ongoing diplomatic row, the number of Indian tourists visiting the Maldives has drastically gone down to a trickle now, the media reported on Wednesday.
Travel agencies and tour operators relying on Indian arrivals reported a decline of 80 percent since January this year, which is a dangerous trend for the island nation’s fragile economy.
From its top position last year, India has now slipped to the sixth position in 2024, prompting voices from the local tourism industry to flag the danger for the tourism-dependent economy of the archipelagic country in the Indian Ocean.
A full-blown backlash was directed at the Maldives following derogatory remarks against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media by three Maldivian officials after the PM posted photos and video of the pristine Lakshadweep Islands on India’s west coast on January 6 on his X handle.
According to the Maldives Tourism Ministry statistics, over 17 lakh tourists visited the island nation in 2023, including over 209,198 Indians followed by Russians (209,146) and Chinese (187,118).
The Indian visitors numbered more than 240,000 in 2022 and 211,000 in 2021. The Maldives was also one of the few countries open for international tourists even during the pandemic. Nearly 63,000 Indians visited it during that period.
India occupied the sixth spot in tourist arrivals in 2024, the Ministry’s statistics showed, compared to the consistent first spot since 2020 with Indian tourists visiting the island nation.
Until about 10 days ago, the Ministry data showed that tourist arrivals from India as of March 2 were only 27,224, a 33 percent decline compared to last year when the corresponding number stood at 41,224.
The local tourism industry is worried about the development and already flagged caution. Even former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has regretted these developments.
Indian tourists usually frequent the Maldives during hot seasons, which coincides with a drop in European arrivals. So, India is the most significant ‘filler’ for the Maldives tourism off-peak season. As of now, the Maldivian tourism industry is facing losses of up to USD 2 billion this year, a decline of 80 percent in revenue.
Not only are Indian tourists boycotting the Maldives, but even affluent NRIs are shunning the island nation.
Now, the tour operators are hoping that the resumption of direct flights between Hanimaadhoo International Airport in Male and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala will bring back some more visitors from India.
“This is the most opportune moment for the island nation to mend fences with its traditional ally. It is also logical that the smaller countries need security and safety ensured by their larger allies. Any conduct to the contrary would not result fortuitously for the Maldives, as evident with the current tourism industry statistics and revenues, a news outlet Sun. mv said.
Arrogance will not benefit us. It would damage the sensitive economy of the country even further. True wisdom lies in accepting one’s weaknesses and strengths, and the reality that we live in to avoid any future brunt, it added.
