President Yameen at the official opening ceremony of Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort in Gaafu Alif atoll. PHOTO/PRESIDENT’S OFFICE
President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom proclaimed on Wednesday that it is a great aspiration of his administration to unveil 50 tourist resorts before the end of this presidential term.
In his address to mark this year’s World Tourism Day, the president highlighted that the government is laying special efforts to widely develop and advance the tourism sector of the Maldives to establish sustainable tourism.
“Accordingly, if we can open 30 more resorts as we aim to do before the end of 2018, it will create 18,000 more job opportunities,” declared the president.
“Furthermore, I would like to note that the largest ventures to revolutionise the Maldivian tourism industry are integrated tourism projects.”
President Yameen noted that the greatest challenge to the tourism sector is transportation across the island nation. In a move to provide better solutions, the government has awarded projects for investors to develop domestic airports in various regions of the archipelago, he said.
The president also drew attention to the ongoing development and enhancement of Velana International Airport (VIA), the Maldives’ main gateway. He reiterated that the newly expanded VIA would be able to serve 7.5 million passengers annually.
“While tourism in the Maldives is progressing with speed, establishing peace and harmony in the nation is essential to maintain this industry. And so, in order to preserve the good name of the Maldivian tourism sector, I urge all the beloved people of the Maldives to unite and work together.”
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