Maldives: No new inquiry; impact to be visible soon, say tour operators

Despite no new inquiries, tour operators say that reports of mass cancellation are not true. However, there are bound to be repercussions which will be clear in the coming days. Maldives has always cut ice with Indian tourists, but it remains to be seen whether the swipe by ministers of the island nation at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, boomerangs or not.

New Delhi: The acerbic jab at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by three ministers in the Maldives cabinet seems to have boomeranged on the island nation. With calls for boycotting Maldives trending, the aggressive retaliation from India is surely going to have severe repercussions on the tourism industry in Maldives.

Ask tour operators and they are ready for the onslaught. They inform that inquiries on Maldives have dried up. According to the Indian Association of Tour Operators "repercussions of recent events and the call for a boycott will become apparent within the next 20-25 days."

But there has been no report of mass cancellation. "If a person has paid an advance for plane tickets and hotels, they will not cancel it," they added. Many However, social media is inundated with claims of cancellation of trips to Maldives.

According to the founder of Make My Trip, Deep Kalra, there has been no mass cancellation of planned holidays by Indians to the island nation. "We have not noticed such a pattern as of now. There has been no such mass cancellation," Kalra said.

As per the Indian Association of Tour Operators, the impact of the chain of events and the call for a boycott will be visible in 20-25 days. "Suddenly, there has been no inquiry on Maldives. There are sudden drops. Those who have made payments will not cancel them. We are expecting that people will not book trips to the Maldives," said Rajiv Mehra, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators.

But are reports of mass boycott true? "People have spent lakhs of rupees, but they are not cancelling it. Those who have not made payments are expected to back out. But the real impact of the boycott will be visible in the next 25 days as there are no new inquiries," Mehra said.

Another operator stated that such statements by political leaders 'influence' people. Maldives has always been popular with Indians. Tourists from India were the highest till December 2023, states a data from the country's tourism ministry.

India (2,09,198), was followed by Russia (2,09,146) and China (1,87,118). "Maldives is quite popular among Indians. But this incident will have an impact. We are also seeing an impact right now as well. We are expecting a downfall in people choosing the Maldives as a tourist destination," a Delhi-based tour operator said who refused to be named.

As an aftermath, the Maldives government on Sunday had cracked the whip on three ministers over their remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The three are Mariyam Shiuna, Malsha Shareef, and Mahzoom Majid.

Shiuna made derogatory remarks against PM Modi on social media platform X. The post by Shiuna, which has now been deleted, featured images of PM Modi from his recent visit to Lakshadweep. (With ANI inputs)

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