The government wants the public, especially youth, to invest in to the country's tourism sector by establishing more tourist facilities.
Efforts are underway to launch tourism financing products via Bank of Maldives (BML) and Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB), revealed Tourism Minister Ibrahim Faisal today.
Speaking at the joint media briefing held today by the ministry and Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), Minister Faisal said that the government wants as many young people as possible to start investing in tourism.
"[We are] going to introduce funds/loans with attractive interest rates, adequate for the development of guest houses and hotels," he said.
Speaking at the press event, the minister said that these loans would be introduced via BML and MIB within this year, and that this would act as a catalyst to drive up the number of guest houses and resorts in all parts of the country.
'[We] want to see Maldives' tourism shape up in a way that has direct flights land at the international airport in Addu, and fill up the beds over there," Minister Faisal said.
Currently the tourism industry within Addu City looks bleak despite the an international airport multiple resorts, hotels and guest houses.
According to him, each of the 20 atolls of the Maldives needs to have a minimum bed capacity of 6,000 in order to change the current situation.
In order to facilitate this, the government is also working on formulating a specialised tourism plan for each atoll individually, he said. Such a plan would determine the number of resorts and guest houses to be operated in each atoll, and would also kickstart efforts to achieve those goals, the minister further added.
Maldives is aiming to host 2 million tourists in the country this year. As of 6th August 2024, this number is over 1.22 million.
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