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  Sustainable tourism development experience of Maldives

Mohamed SAEED - Deputy Minister of Tourism, Malé, Maldives

 

 

Maldives is an archipelagic small nation consisting of 1190 small islands in the India Ocean. The Maldives population is at present estimated to be about 265,000 living in 199 islands with a quarter of this population in the capital island Malé. Out of the nearly 1000 islands that are uninhibited 82 islands have been developed as tourist resorts. Another five resort islands have already been identified and is at present under construction. It is expected that these resorts will be in operation at least early next year.

At present we have about 15,780 beds in our resorts and hotels. Tourism in the Maldives started in 1972 with only 1,097 tourist arrivals that year.

 

In 1998, Maldives received 395,725 tourists, spending an average of 8.8 days in the country.

The average occupancy of the resorts in 1998 was 76.2 %. As the main attraction of the Maldives is it natural environment, all tourist resorts implement strict measures to preserve and maintain the environment the flora and fauna of the coral reef island ecology.

In addition to providing the climate for local and foreign investments in the development of tourist resorts and other related facilities, the government as regulator and facilitator for tourism development has invested heavily in providing air transport facilities, provision of an efficient and reliable telecommunication services and in developing the Institute for Hotel and Castering Services.

Economic growth of Maldives has been largely driven by the tourism sector. This trend has brought about a radical shift in the structure of the economy from one dominated by fishing, to the position now, where tourism is the leading industry and a range of tertiary activities have grown in support of tourism and to service the higher general standard of living. The estimated contribution of the tourism sector to GDP in 1998 was 19.3 %. While a third of the government revenue is derived from tourism revenue. About 70 % of the foreign currency earned by the country is from tourism. The total tourism receipts in 1998 is estimated to be US$ 302.99 Million.

Early development

The early development of the sector involved essentially in an unplanned laissez-faire manner and was practically driven by the sector. Given the small and the basic services it provided then, the sector demanded relatively small amounts of investment capital mainly obtained through private savings and short term capital was raised through advanced payments from foreign tour operators. Total beds stood at 280 in 1972 increasing to 2400 beds by the end of 1980.

Most resorts were situated within close proximity of the Male' International Airport. Male' International Airport is only a 5 minute boat ride away from the capital, Male'_ Total arrivals in 1972 was around 1097 but by 1980 the numbers of arrivals had reached 42000.

For most part of the 1970s, the sector contribution to GDP stood at around 10 %. During the 1980s, the sector contribution had increased to around 16 %, accounting for 21 % of total government revenue, and provided about 41 % of foreign exchange earnings.

Planned development

To promote and guide the development of industry and to set the policy direction, the government established the Department of Tourism and Foreign Investment in 1978, which was later renamed as Ministry of Tourism in 1988. The government, through the Department of Tourism and Foreign Investment, formulated policies and strengthened the institutional capacity for administering and monitoring the sector. Such policies formed the basis for comprehensive planning for the industry. In an attempt to boost foreign investment in the sector, a foreign investment law was enacted in November 1979.

In the 1980s the Ministry of Tourism became involved in guiding the development of the sector including setting operating standards anddemarcation of the development zones for the sector.

The environment sector started receiving prominence in 1984 when a National Council for the Protection of the Environment was established. In June 1990 an Environment Research Unit was established within the Ministry of Planning, to collect, collate and manage relevant informationon the environment. The environmental Protection and Preservation Act (1993) provided the Ministry of Planning, Human Resources and Environment with wide statutory powers, including formulation policies and their enforcement.

To limit environmental degradation and to help sustain the natural integrity of the environment as far as possible, the government has taken a number of measures. These measures include comprehensive regulations and guidelines for resort development and operations.

Carrying capacity for tourist resorts to limit the number the users below the environment thresholds have been defined.

Maximum built-up area of any resort island is limited to 20% of land area and the building heights may not exceed vegetation levels. Only 68% of beach length can be utilised for guestrooms. Twenty percent of the beach has to be reserved for public use and 12% must be left as open space. Construction on reef flats and lagoons are being permitted provided equal open space is left on the island for the building floor area developed in the lagoon or reef flats. All guestrooms must face the beach and five linear metres of beach line is to be allocated to each bungalows.

Efforts are also made by the government through implementation of environmental standards to promote and preserve the integrity of the ecosystem. These include : restrictions on cutting down trees or preservation of natural vegetation, mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (AIE) prior to any major works, control of construction of jetties, groynes, restriction on construction of sea walls, and detached or submerged break-waters.

Further, the government prohibits coral and sands mining on resorts and inhabited island. The government has identified a number of specific sites as protected marine areas. In these areas, fishing and anchoring, removal of coral and other destructive activities are prohibited. More such areas are to be identified and declared as protected sites.

The problem of waste management is addressed through the compulsory installation of incinerators, bottle crushers and compactors in all resorts. Sewerage disposal through soak-pits into the aquifer is discouraged and permission to do so is not given to any of the new resorts. It is mandatory to install of wastewater treatment plants on all new resort developments. The installation of desalination plants and provision of desalinated water on tourist resorts have substantially reduced the stress on the natural aquifer.

In this protected environment of the tourist resort where every single among the abundant schools within the house reefs is protected, where even the collection of dead corals is vigorously discouraged, and where every element of the environment is considered an asset, there is no desire to attract uncontrolled mass tourism.

A Maldives resort, confined to a single island is analogous with passenger liners at sea; self contained, producing their own energy and water by desalinating seawater, and importing 90 % of its requirements.

Unlike the passenger liners, these resorts are not crowded, and the sewerage and waste disposal thus becoming more complicated and involving higher costs. Today almost all of the resorts have their own incinerators. In addition to the provision of these facilities, transport and transfer costs are high to these dispersed islands set among shallow reefs. These factors combined with the high labour costs in the Maldives, it is a destination that is not considered by the holidaymakers as a cheap destination.

Today, the Maldives welcomes over 400,000 tourists a year. These guest to the country spend most of their time in self-contained tourist resort islands especially developed and set aside for tourism, in private bungalows. In the Maldives only one resort is constructed on an island. For leisure, most tourists spend time relaxing in private beaches, diving, snorkelling and engaging in other water sports activities.

The prudence and vision and the commendable role of the tourism industry stack holders including local and foreign entrepreneurs, and the government of Maldives have led this success story of sustainable tourism development in island states.

The majority of tourists coming to Maldives is from Europe (over 75%), are generally aware of what they want in the islands that they perceive to be an environmental paradise and generally have a profound respect for the environment.

It is important that all, both Maldivian and other investors and business partners remain acutely conscious of this fact, position and target the Maldives appropriately, the unique solitude, peace and harmony with the environment of the Maldives as a premium product that is unique and thus sold selectively.

Although the sense of discovery still remains after 27 years of tourism in the country the strict environmental standards maintained have developed and matured Maldives tourism product into a luxurious and unique tourism offering high standards of services and facilities.

Such developments are so discrete and well planned that in approaching some of these most exclusive islands, tourists would feel that they are in a green island with a few dispersed cadjan roofed bungalows that are in perfect harmony with nature. They finally settle down to find themselves much more comfortable, well deserved by an almost invisible resident staff to the ratio of 1:1, more safe, secure and at peace and harmony with nature. Even in the more sophisticated resort hotels catering for vacation tourists and business travellers alike, the modern super structures are well spaced and hidden away among the greenery.

Maldives undertakes to develop tourism in a planned manner.

The second 10-year tourism master plan (1996 - 2005) anticipates to increase the bed capacity by 10,000 beds in 10 years period. In the last 4 or 5 years, we have seen the bed capacity increased by about 4000 beds. With this increase in bed capacity, we are expecting a slight fall in the bed capacity utilisation from 77,4% in 1997 to about 74,6% in 1998. If tourism beds are allowed to expand without, any control, it could easily expand to many thousands covering aver thousand available islands. Yet the government and the tourists industry are cautiously evaluating the effect of existing increase in bed capacity to 15,780 beds this year, before any further expansions are undertaken. Cautious development in the development of tourism and the maturity and will of all concerned to address any negative impacts have the Maldives a successful destination with sustainable tourism.

Along with policies to curb the negative aspects of the environment, the government has also concentrated in providing the necessary infrastructure on tourism development. The pattern of government investment in the Airport has closely associated with the development in the tourism sector. The opening of the Male International Airport in 1981, marked the beginning of another important phase in the development of the industry. It has allowed greater access to major markets through regular flights and facilitated the arrival of widebodies jets. Resort operators are also concentrating in providing comfortable transfer to and from the airport. As a result, inter-island transport within the industry needs has improved considerably. Today, sea transport is supplemented by sea-plane transfers.

The above developments have assisted to strengthen activities in the sector and shape the environment friendly model of tourism in the Maldives. It has resulted in its increased contribution to GDP from 11.5 % in 1980 to 19.3 % in 1998, and a third of the total government earnings and nearly 70 % of foreign exchange receipts. As such today, tourism has become the major vehicle for the country's impressive socio-economic development over the past two decades.

Marketing is a central aspect of any business activity. With the expansion of Male International Airport and the development of air links, the industry has been able to achieve some degree of market diversification.

Nevertheless, the major generating markets still continue to be within Europe. Tourism being an increasingly competitive industry internationally, the need for an effective marketing strategy that emphasises the Maldives as a destination is important. In order to market reliance, and to implement a cost-effective marketing strategy, the government and the private sector have been collaborating at various international tourism fairs and other forms of promotional activities.

The country's air transport policy exerts a considerable influence on the prospects of tourism in the Maldives.

It will, therefore, be essential for Maldives to maintain an air transport policy conductive to future expansion and sustainability of the industry.

Lessons of experience

Through various achievements we have also learned a number of lessons and experiences from which we can guide our future programmes and activities that would promote sustainable tourism. It is evident that the key factor underlying the success of tourism in the Maldives has been the generally favourable policy environment. The policy framework has encouraged and promoted private sector involvement both foreign and local, in all aspects of the industry development.

Although there has been considerable constraints in raising the necessary investment finances domestically, this has been partly offset by of foreign capital due to the Government's policy of free capital movement. Moreover, the unrestricted repatriation of profits and the liberal tax policies have attracted substantial foreign investment to the sector. However, it is important that the financial sector of the country is strengthened and the legal regime be developed in a manner consistent with international standards. Then only can we be assured of a nationally controlled and sustainable industry that is highly competitive in a global economy.

Unlike many tourist destinations, the island nature of the country has provided for an inherent advantage for developing "enclave-tourism" in the Maldives. This has helped to minimise negative aspects of tourism, allowing for local culture, traditions and lifestyles to be sustained without undue alien pressures on the society.

At the same time, it has also become apparent that in allocating islands of tourism development, a careful balance is required between both the geographic spread and population densities. This would enable a more balanced growth in economic activities, allowing for the co-existence of other industries such as fisheries and agriculture in the same areas. In addition, it is accepted that suc a spread would help to increase the living standards of the population and increase business opportunities.