Capacity to benefit from tourism slowing down: Khaleel

Advisor to the President on Tourism Development and prominent industry figure Mohamed Khaleel said last night that it has become difficult to acquire financing from international investors in the tourism industry as Maldives' credit rating has fallen.

At the GM Forum held at Kurumba Maldives, Khaleel said even though BML provides some form of financing, investors are not getting the financing they truly need. He stated that around 70 resorts are incomplete due to lack of financing.

Khaleel said that the return on investment in Maldives tourism has also seen a decline.

Khaleel went on to say that revenue gained and occupancy need to be compared when talking about tourism. While referencing statistics, he said that it is concerning that 42 percent of the bed capacity has gone unused, and that solutions for this need to be sought out.

“When looking at resort performance over the last two to three months, even though revenue has increased, opportunities to gain even more revenue have slowed down when compared to what it potentially could have been. We need to compare the growth of Maldivian tourism to the tourism of other countries,” said Khaleel.

Khaleel stated that tourism would not grow at the pace that is needed and modern tourism is not tied specifically to spending a holiday. He also said that Maldivian tourism needs to be diversified in various ways.

Khaleel went on to say that Maldivian tourism will not see growth just by bringing in tourists.

He has expressed his thoughts regarding tourism promotion and the recent initiatives surrounding it, with one of them being the policy on "halal" tourism.

"There is no need to speak on halal tourism. When we talk about introducing it, it implies the last 50 years have seen haram tourism in Maldives. That is not a good thing to talk about. A lot of Muslim tourists come to the Maldives even now," said Khaleel.