Maldives Tourism booming despite global economic crisis

Maldives tourism industry is booming despite the current economic current crisis facing most countries, two of the biggest stakeholders of the industry have revealed.

Sales Manager of Universal Enterprises Shoumo Mukarjee informed that all resorts operated by Universal Group are fully booked till January and that so far there are no cancellations.

Ifaa speaking on behalf of Villa Hotels revealed that all resorts operated by Villa Group are fully booked till end of February and that there are no cancellations.

Despite the very encouraging season, both Villa and Universal groups are fully aware the current global recession and says that it is quite possible the Maldives may be affected. However they also expressed that every effort is being made to minimize the adverse effects of the global recession on Maldives tourism industry.

According to a report released in Berlin/ Germany by global tourism experts the industry will fully recover from the adverse effects of the current recession by 2010 and that 2011 and 2012 will be hopeful years which will set unprecedented records.

“Our challenge is to see through the pressures of today and prepare for a different world, but predicting the timing of the end of the current global economic crisis and the start of the recovery remains an even bigger challenge,” said Rolf Freitag, President & CEO of IPK International in his summing up at the close of IPK’s annual World Travel Monitor Forum held on 6-7 November in San Giuliano Terme near Pisa, Italy. “After four years of sustained strong growth, which continued through the month of May 2008, outbound travel demand slowed considerably from June, with growth slipping into negative figures from September in some regions” the report revealed.

The financial crisis and the recession have clearly reached the international travel markets. Many airlines and tour operators have meanwhile reduced capacity for 2009. The majority of the experts gathered in Pisa believe that demand for international travel will be down by about 1% in 2009. But they also think that the crisis will not last longer than 12 to 18 months.

In an effort to counteract these, high end destinations have commenced introducing special packages. Experts predict that destinations which do not prepare to meet the challenges may face great economic difficulties.