A section of travel agents have expressed that the ongoing diplomatic tension between India and Maldives has resulted in cancellations and a decline in demand for the archipelagic nation.
These apprehensions stem from the disparaging remarks made by a few Maldivian deputy ministers on social media platform X, directed at Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the Lakshadweep Island. Subsequently, the hashtag ‘Boycott Maldives’ is currently trending on X in India.
“We have suspended flight bookings to the Maldives in support of the government, impacting 2.4 lakh annual bookings made through our platform. In fact, bookings to Maldives surged by approximately 40% last year as compared to the year before,” shared Prashant Pitti, Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip.
“We have introduced Lakshadweep as the premier destination, on par with international favourites, and we wish to enter into an alliance with Lakshadweep Tourism soon to promote the destination,” added Pitti.
Jyoti Mayal, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) termed the remarks as ‘unacceptable’.
“Countries especially Maldives, where the Indians are driving the economy and are the number one source market and highest spenders, should be careful of such comments. The situation has taken serious implications and will impact 23% of Maldives tourism and foreign exchange earnings.
“The new government of Maldives have been trying to throw their weight against India truly showing the influence of ‘outsiders’ who are feeling threatened by India’s economic growth. India has always supported Maldives and has had a longstanding cordial relationship. The saddest part is that few people occupying important chairs have misused their position to spoil the tourism relationship between our countries and the brunt will be borne by all tourism stakeholders in Maldives,” said Mayal.
“We are noticing many travellers reaching out to us and our members to cancel their Maldives bookings as they feel they may not be safe as such negative thoughts are being aired. Today India itself has many more destinations to offer and globally too travellers are spoiled for choices,” she added.
The three ministers in question Mariyam Shiuna, Malsha Shareef and Mahzoom Majid have been suspended.
“I really wish the respected Ministers from Maldives have learnt this quote – “think before you speak”, especially, when it comes to a country contributing maximum in terms of tourist arrival numbers. The way Indians are sharing the screenshots of their cancelled vouchers on social media, it will make a strong impact on the demand for Maldives. Even though the Maldivian government has entered into damage control mode, I think it will take some time for things to come back to normal,” said Saurabh Tuteja, Chairman, North India Chapter, Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETTA).
“The comments made on the Indian Prime Minister have not gone down well with both the industry and consumers. Maldives has been an extremely popular destination for the Indian outbound tourism market. However, we are already seeing our clients who were planning to visit the country asking us to suggest other alternate destinations. We have also seen few cancellations. There has to be some damage control done by the Maldives government otherwise this year may see a dip in the number of Indians travelling to the Maldives,” said Varun Gupta, Partner, Travelz Factorry.
The Maldives government, in a statement, without naming its ministers or Prime Minister Modi said, “The Government of Maldives is aware of derogatory remarks on social media platforms against foreign leaders and high-ranking individuals. These opinions are personal and do not represent the views of the Government of Maldives.”
“In light of the Maldivian Minister’s remarks on PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep, we recognize the importance of monitoring client sentiments closely. While there may be concerns among travellers, our approach is to address these apprehensions proactively. We anticipate some clients considering cancellations and exploring alternative destinations,” said Devang Bhasin, CEO, Mondy India.
Amidst the controversy, demand for domestic tourism is setting records.
Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head – Holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India) said, “With the Prime Minister’s recent visit to Lakshadweep and encouragement to Indians to explore the islands within the country, we have witnessed an uptick in our searches for both domestic islands and beach destinations. Our search data for Lakshadweep indicates a significant jump of over 950% compared to December, followed by destinations like Andamans, Goa, Kerala’s Kovalam, Daman and Diu – a clear catalyst for domestic tourism.“
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu who was recently elected to office gained power riding his ‘Out India’ campaign. Unlike his predecessors, India has not been his first stop after entering office. He has since then been to Turkey, UAE, and China. Muizzu after assuming office asked India to withdraw its military from Maldives, and decided not to renew a pact for a survey of Maldivian waters.