World Tourism Day 2021 Celebrations Head to Addu Atoll
Saturday 6th of March 2021
On March 4, 2021, stakeholders of the tourism industry focusing on the southern region in the Maldives took part in a virtual meeting held by the Ministry of Tourism. The meeting was attended by Tourism Minister, Abdulla Mausoom, Addu City Council Mayor, Abdulla Sodiq, members from the Gan International Airport, members from the national and international aviation sector, leaders from resorts in the Southern region of Maldives, National Boating Association of the Maldives, Maldives Surfing Association, Guesthouse Association of the Maldives, MMPRC and tour operators and travel agents in the Maldives.
A number of significant discussions were held in the meeting, mainly focusing on bringing development to the southern region in order to utilize its maximum potential to flourish as a tourist hub. By routing and promoting more international flights to Gan International Airport, tourist arrivals are expected to rise with easier connectivity to world-class resorts in the region. The Gan Airport has the capacity to land and park private jets which opens the destination to elite and niche markets for luxury tourism.
Moreover, this will boost the local guesthouse tourism in the island who are currently challenged by the connectivity issues in attracting guests to their accommodations. Minister Mausoom expressed plans to increase the number of tourist beds in the southern atolls of Maldives in order to promote the region.
Participants also discussed on building a portfolio around the natural beauty of this unexplored region in the Maldives. World famous dive points in Fuvahmulah, the unique underwater Atlantis in Huvadhoo Atoll and tempting surf breaks in the southern atolls have mammoth potential to develop adventure tourism, sports tourism, underwater tourism, safari tourism and so on, which are untapped in the area to say the least.
Lastly, even though World Tourism Day celebrations were dim in 2020 obviously overshadowed by the global pandemic, the Ministry plans on bringing back big-time celebrations this year. Addu City Council took initiative of signing up to host the celebrations in Addu City. Marked on September 27 every year, the theme for this year’s event is "Tourism for Inclusive Growth".