President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has revealed 1,300 beds will be added to the tourism sector this year. The president made the remarks while delivering the presidential address at the Parliament of Maldives.
Delivering the address, President Solih expressed there are major objectives to be achieved in the tourism sector this year. The president noted tourists had stayed in 158 resorts, 607 guest houses, 12 tourist hotels and 156 safaris in 2019, bringing the total number of beds to 50-thousand-591. He underlined an additional 1,300 beds are to be introduced this year, with the expected introduction of 13 resorts and 74 guest houses this year.
Furthermore, noting novel coronavirus syndrome has proliferated into a global epidemic with potentially debilitating implications on the tourism sector of Maldives, President Solih said 13,287 tourists have cancelled their bookings since the gravity of the syndrome surfaced in mid-January. He stated more efforts are needed to market Maldives as a tourist destination to remedy the loss.
The administration is currently working to attain 2.15 million tourists before the end of 2021, and expand the number of incoming tourists to 2.5 million per year. Maldives surpassed the expected 1.5 million tourist arrivals to 1.7 million in 2019, which is an increment of 14.7% relative to 2018.