Abdulla Yaasir has taken over as chief executive and managing director of Visit Maldives Corporation (VMC). The appointment took effect on Wednesday.
Yaasir brings more than 25 years in tourism, hospitality, corporate management and destination development. He entered the industry in 1993. He has run resorts as general manager and served as a director of One&Only Kanuhura. Since 2010 he has led Supersupply and Watermark as managing director. He also chairs the Entrepreneurs Association of Maldives.
He studied at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. He holds a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism business management and a master’s in tourism business administration.
The new Visit Maldives managing director inherits a company under financial pressure. It posted a profit of MVR 17 million last year. That figure marks a 37% fall on the year before.
Ibrahim Shiuree resigned from the post on 24 August. He gave no public reason for leaving. His exit came five days after PATA elected him to its executive board, a seat he won on 19 August after a year as an ordinary board member.
Shiuree held the job for a little over two years. He took the role of Visit Maldives managing director on 13 June 2024, when the government removed his predecessor Fathimath Thaufeeg. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from Limkokwing University in Malaysia and has served as vice-president of the Table Tennis Association of the Maldives.
The corporation itself carries a recent name. It operated as the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) until July 2025, when President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu renamed it. Its mandate covers the marketing, promotion and advertising of the Maldives as a destination, and the Visit Maldives direct answers to an 11-member board chaired by Abdulla Ghiyas Riyaz.