Malé, Maldives – Minister of Tourism of Maldives Dr. Abdullah Mausoom has stated that the tourism industry of Addu City – a heart shaped atoll at the very bottom of the Maldives – will see more progress in the upcoming five years than it did during the past 38 years.
The Minister’s statement came on the occasion of the 38th anniversary of the opening of the first tourist hotel in the Maldives, which was known as the Gan Holiday Camp, located in Gan island of the city. He sent out a tweet on 22nd February to mark the day, in which he expressed his confidence that the tourism industry of the city will prosper in the upcoming future.
Currently, the city’s tourism is suffering due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused the two main resorts operating in the city to be indefinitely shit down, while guesthouses also incur insurmountable losses with international flights not operating to the Gan International Airport.
With this, only a handful of tourist establishments such as the Equator Village and Wave Sound by 3S, as well as some other guest houses are actively in operation, meaning that the city only receives mere peanuts in via tourism.
However, with the Maldives rolling out Covid-19 vaccines for the residents of the country at an impressively fast pace and looking towards introducing ‘Visit & Vaccinate Vacations’ where tourists would be able to come to the Maldives to get vaccinated and stay in the country during that time, Maldives and all of its destinations, including Addu City are expected to soon overcome the closures and travel restrictions that have been put in place due to the pandemic.
While it is not known exactly how the government plans on improving the tourism sector of Addu City, the removal of the obstacles which Covid-19 has put in place is expected to make the process easier.
