Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) has challenged World Bank’s claim the country’s GDP was being pulled down by local guesthouses.
According to World Bank in its recent South Asia Development Update (SADU) claimed the GDP growth has been reduced 0.5% from the original output forecast to 4.7%.
The bank attributed this drop mainly to the shift in travelers from high-end luxury resorts to guesthouses. MATATO however, rejects this claim noting GDP’s decline cannot be attributed only to this one factor.
In its Tuesday’s statement, MATATO said this decline primarily reflects on the sizeable gap between supply and demand, and noted that the average daily rates (ADR) has dropped in the entire tourism industry, while proactive destination marketing and tourism promotion efforts are needed to rectify the vacuum created by the increased supply against demand.
MATATO further highlighted the annual occupancy rate of guesthouses stood at 42.7% in 2023, which is significantly lower than the occupancy rate of tourist resorts last year. The association further said the room rates and occupancy rates of guesthouses were diminutive, and that it could not hamper the GDP growth to a noticeable extent.
Statistics from MATATO showed that while the tourism industry was comprised of 62,822 operational beds as of November 01, 2023, only 51% of it were sold, indicating a significant portion remained unused.
On the other hand, the average duration of stay declined from 8.1 days in 2022 to 7.6 days in 2023, thereby dropping the tourism-related receipts from the overall sector, and not only from guesthouses.