The Maldives, a place of ocean island and practically synonymous with Romance, has been marked as the most successful tourism stories amid pandemic with around 500,000 visitors.
As tourism contributes 28% of the total Maldives GDP, one of the highest among the world total’s , so when all the other tourist place bordering Maldives closed up their borders for tourist during pandemic, Maldives welcomed them regardless of the status of virus of their place.
Although the country’s geographical system lends it well to coronavirus protocols as many and resorts are located in their own private islands , maintaining a proper social distancing as these islands are isolated itself .
Thoyyib Mohamed is the managing director of the Maldives Marketing & PR Corporation, the country’s national tourism authority.
He says that the country received a total number of 555,494 visitors in 2020, surpassing their adjusted arrival forecast of 500,000 arrivals by the end of 2020.
“Our biggest advantage is the unique geographical features of Maldives,” he says, adding that the implementation of strict hygiene protocols combined with the ease of spreading people on different islands made a compelling combination for travelers who wanted to get away from it all.
“We promoted the destination as a safe haven to the tourists.”
“Our guests are traveling less frequently, but for longer and with more purpose,” said Jan Tibaldi, general manager of One&Only Reethi Rah.
The infrastructure system of Maldives also contributed a lot during this pandemic for its visitors safety, as many resorts had their private boat or plane transfers built into their packages, the visitors could directly reach their destination without encountering other places.
Maldives however kept a good check on the pandemic as even after opening it’s borders for the tourist to visit , the place had a very good control of the virus Covid-19.
