Stakeholders of the tourism industry have urged on the importance of effectively utilising the domestic airports in the Maldives as borders reopen following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The call was made by participants of the National Federation of Maldivian Employers (NFME)’s ‘Safe Reopening and Reviving of Maldives Travel and Tourism’ webinar. Top industry experts participated the webinar, including Abdulla Giyas from Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO), CEO of Manta Air Mohamed Khaleel, Director of Business Development at Villa Hotels and Resorts Murad Hassan and Founder and CEO of Soneva Group Sonu Shivdasani.
Participants discussed the effects of the pandemic on the industry and the safe restarting of travel and tourism in addition to how to transform the industry during the recovery period. Post-pandemic approaches and practices were also part of the discussion, as the government prepares to reopen borders in July.
CEO of Manta Air Mohamed Khaleel stated the government must utilise domestic airports in all across the country to enable visitors to reach the airports closest to their resorts. He said the dependency on Velana International Airport (VIA) will cause delays in services and hold up tourists. All participants supported the idea proposed by Khaleel.
Despite the plan to open borders in July, the participants do not expect the number of visitors to be very high during the period due to economic regression caused to people and businesses due to COVID-19.
This was the first session of its webinar series created by NFME to discuss and explore how to navigate the industry in the new norm and tailor a new reality and an experience. The federation said more of such webinars will be carried out over the coming days.