Maldives, famous for its sunny weather and white  sandy beaches with crystal clear water,  is a true paradise on earth. And unarguably, this natural beauty is the main source of income for the island nation, in the form of its ever blooming tourism industry.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the whole world to shut themselves in, with the closure of the international borders. Maldives also closed off their border, shutting down the tourism industry for the first time since its inception in 1972.

But, was it really necessary to shut down the tourism industry? Or was there an alternative to this?

Maldives is a tiny island nation with thousands of islands scattered across the sea geographically isolated from each island by a deep ocean or a shallow lagoon . Is there be a better place on earth than the Maldives to go during a pandemic ?

The government of Maldives truly lost a valuable opportunity to introduce a new form of tourism when it decided to shut down the tourism industry in 2020.

Private island concept

As I mentioned above Maldivian resort  islands are geographically isolated from each other while the “one island one resort” concept still stands, meaning no locals will live on those resort islands.. Naturally this means that it’s already a private island where tourists can enjoy their holidays or in this case could have acted as a safe haven for those who can afford, to hide out from the COVID-19.

Maldives , well known for its ultra-luxury tourism industry is well prepared to cater for such a scenario in terms of world class facilities.

Question is, why didn’t the government allow billionaires & celebrities to come and spend some quality time with their family and friends by booking a whole island for themselves? While this concept was successfully implemented in other tourist destinations. Such as the famous case when the Thai King isolated himself with his concubines after booking a whole facility for himself.

Local tourism

Local tourism saw a boom in many countries, especially in china where hundreds of millions of people travelled to different areas of the country for different occasions instead of going abroad since the country was in locked down. This aided China during the hardest period of the pandemic making it the first country to manage and to recover its economy and get on its feet.

The Maldives could have also used a similar the same approach. Had they have focused on this the internal economy of the nation would have flourished and people would have received some income. This would have also affected many resorts in that they could have managed without firing the local employees, which forced the government a close to half a billion Maldivian Ruffiiya on income support allowance.

End result

Maldivian tourism is considered as a benchmark by countries. Its considered as an innovator where others come and see what’s new in tourism or how they can change their tourism industry. It’s no surprise as the Maldivian tourism industry has been well managed and has been growing steadily and it always took innovation as driving factor in its tourism.

The closure of the tourism industry in 2020 is without a doubt a lost opportunity to launch a new type of tourism in the Maldives. One which could have created a considerable source of income amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.