Male’, Maldives – A brand new resort to be opened next month, Ozen Reserve Bolifushi, has announced that Ali Shakir, who has worked in the tourism industry for many years, and has become one of the most experienced locals in the field, has been named the new Manager of the resort.
Shakir, who pursued a higher education in tourism, worked in the field for several resorts throughout his career, out of which the longest served duration was at Hulhumale’ Island Hotel, for a total of 17 years. He has also worked as the Manager of Oblu Selected at Sangeli as well as Varu by Atmosphere resorts as the manager in each facility.
Apart from his good name in the tourism industry, Shakir is also well known to be active in the social arena, being active in volunteerism as well.
The Ozen Reserve Bolifushi resort, will open next month under the management of Shakir, as a modern, high end resort, with seven private ocean reserve villas, each equipped with 750 meter slides directly taking tourists into the lagoon whenever desired, dedicated for top notch service. An additional nine water villas with swimming pools, and a five room bungalow will also be made available to cater to the needs of the tourists, while the entire resort has a total of 90 villas.
The company first opened a resort in the Maldives in 2016, in the island of Maadhoofinolhu.
Currently there are 349 operational tourist facilities in the Maldives, which add up to 22,776 beds, with an additional five resorts scheduled to open in the Maldives prior to the year 2021, which would add an extra 914 beds.
The country has been celebrating milestones within the industry, since it reopened borders on July 15th, three months after a complete lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then more than 59,000 tourists have arrived in Maldives to finally spend a calm vacation following the chaos brought on by the pandemic.
During the five months since opening borders, the most number of tourist arrivals have been from Russia, with 12,961 tourists, while UAE, America, UK, Spain, German, France, Brazil, Ukraine and Egypt have also contributed majortly to the country’s industry.
Currently fifteen airlines are operating to Maldives and an additional ten airlines have planned to start their operations before the end of this year.
Tourism Ministry has also established a tourism help desk at Velana International Airport’s arrival terminal. The purpose of this help desk is to provide information and assistance to the tourists who visit Maldives during this time.
Ministry highlighted that through this counter, all information on Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Tourism Ministry’s rules and regulations set amid the Covid-19 would be available. In addition to this the counter would also facilitate in assisting tourists to solve any issues which might arise between them and resorts, guest houses and safaris.
Ministry also stated that as the airport was the first entry point to the country which is heavily dependent on tourism, and that by having a help desk at the arrival terminal would allow tourists to solve any issues which might arise and give them a warm welcome to the country. According to the ministry, the help desk would also increase the safety of the tourists more than now.
The Desk will be open for flight operational hours and travelers and operators who need assistance may call +960 9423131 to get their assistance.
After the borders have opened, Tourism Ministry has been proactively doing various activities and taking measures to promote tourism in the country including promotional events and high safety standards in the tourism sector to prevent spreading of Covid-19 virus in the resorts and other tourist facilities.
Maldives also got certified as a “Safe Travel” destination which is safe for tourists to travel to in September. This stamp is provided to countries which are the safest with regards to Covid-19.
Only a negative PCR test not exceeding 96 hours is necessary to enter Maldives, and travelers of every nationality are offered a free tourist visa of 30 days on arrival. Split stays among exclusive tourist resorts, guesthouses on local islands and safaris are also now permitted.
