Dr. Ahmed Ali Sawad, Minister of Tourism and Arts have said that the stakeholders of the Maldives tourism industry should step-up its advertizing campaign, speaking on the occasion of international tourism day.
Because of the global financial crisis people are traveling lesser as tourists and Maldives tourist arrival is down by 8.8% in comparison to last year, he said. As Maldives depends heavily on tourism, lot of work has to be done to reinstate tourism according to the Minister.
Minister also said that the government’s tourism policy’s main objective is to distribute the wealth gained by the industry to all its people. He also said that resorts are being leased in all the atolls of the country while public-private partnership models are being introduced to start new projects. He also said that government will do its utmost to provide employment for the locals from the tourism industry.
Protecting the nature, preserving the local culture, and establishing cultural centers in the island to encourage tourists to visit cultural and historic sites are among priorities of the policy, according to Minister. According to the Minister, streamlining the resort rents would also enable the government to tax all the resorts on a common basis.
He also noted that experts are predicting the revival of the tourism industry and even for the Maldives, statistics for the month of August had shown improvements. Once tourism picks up, dollar shortage in the country can be eliminated according to the Minister, which would also help the investors to develop the resorts which are under construction.
miadhu.com.mv
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