The Maldives Minister of Tourism Dr. Abdulla Mausoom on Monday responded to his Sri Lankan counterpart Harin Fernando’s comment about Maldives tourism.
Speaking to local news ‘Mihaaru’, the minister said the Sri Lankan minister’s claim carried no weight as there were several repeater tourists to the Maldives.
Dr. Mausoom also stressed that he does not believe Fernando’s remarks were intended to harm the sentiments of the Maldivian tourism industry, nor was his remarks an attempt to derail the island nation’s tourism momentum.
“I met him at the ITB fair. I thought he was a young and energetic minister. I don’t believe he meant anything by it; it looks like an offhanded comment that was just caught on camera,” Dr. Mausoom said.
The minister was also confident that the comment would not affect the country’s booming tourism sector. He said that Maldives won the World’s Leading Destination three years in a row, and this was a testament to how popular the country is all over the world.
He also said that tourists are not ‘fed up’ with the Maldives, which is proven by the high number of repeater tourists the country attracts each year.
“A lot of the tourists that come to the Maldives are ‘repeat tourists’. You will see me going to the airport personally from time to time to greet the tourists who come to the Maldives on their 40th or 50th visit. Most tourists visiting the country after Covid are repeat tourists.”
Dr. Mausoom also said that regional tourism is growing in the Maldives as many tourists who visit India or Sri Lanka also come to the Maldives, and a lot of these travelers make the Maldives their primary destination during their visits to the neighboring countries.
While speaking at a panel discussion at the recent ITB Berlin 2023, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Tourism and Lands, Harin Fernando said, “I know lots of people go to the Maldives… the Maldives just has the beach – I’m not criticizing – but if you stay there for five days, you get fed up of it. That’s it, you’re just on an island, you’re caught up in one place. But in Sri Lanka, it’s not like that; there’s something for everyone.”
Though the intentions may not have been adversarial, Fernando’s remarks about the Maldives have caught the attention of the Sri Lankan public with several already criticizing the minister for his comments.
Some of the netizens were quick to lambaste the minister saying that the approach to promote Sri Lanka’s tourism was not by deriding the same industry in a neighboring country.
Others have apologized to the Maldivian public and the state for the comments made by the minister.
