New govt aims to boost tourism revenue to $6b

The new government on Monday announced its goal to increase annual tourism revenue to USD 6 billion.

The government's revenue target for tourism revenue was announced by the Visitor Economy Council formed by the cabinet, at a press conference held at the President's Office on Monday.

At the press conference, economic minister Mohamed Saeed, who chairs the council formed on Sunday, said the council will work to achieve short, medium and long term goals in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.

"Maldives' GDP is USD 6 billion, now approximately, on average. Of that, USD 4.5 billion is coming from tourism; tourism's contribution to GDP," he said.

"We have a very short-term target, also the president's, to bring tourism revenue to USD 6 billion. It is to push the current total GDP ceiling targeting only the tourism sector. So it will increase significantly with other sectors."

Saeed said some other countries in the world are also working to expand tourism in the visitor economy model. Countries such as Australia, the UK, Dubai and Saudi Arabia are already working on a similar model, he said.

The biggest obstacle to expanding Maldives's tourism and the economy as a whole is the prolonged new terminal project at Velana International Airport (VIA).

The previous government had planned to complete the new terminal by July 2025, according to information released by the committee during the interim phase. However, President Mohammed Muizzu aims to complete the project by September next year.

The new government has been assured of MVR 1.2 billion from the UAE to accelerate the project.