Groups calling to boycott tourism will be excluded from promotions: Tourism Ministry

Ministry of Tourism has warned that groups participating in campaigns to boycott the tourism industry of Maldives will be excluded from promotion campaigns carried out by the government.

Minister of State for Tourism Maleeh Jamal told Sun Online in an interview that action will be taken against travel agents and resorts involved in such campaigns.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed in a recent interview urged tourists not to travel to Maldives, and even to cancel any bookings made to travel to Maldives.

Nasheed’s former Economic Advisor Ali Shiyam had in the same interview expressed support for Nasheed’s call to boycott the tourism industry.

Shiyam is a shareholder of several resorts.

Moreover, former Maldivian Ambassador to the UK Farahanaz Faisal had distributed leaflets in the UK to discourage tourists from travelling to Maldives, at a time when Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb was visiting the UK.

Farahanaz has also been encouraging the large-scale campaigns on Twitter and Facebook to boycott the tourism industry of the Maldives.

This has caught the attention of international media as well.

Maleeh said that the government will not tire in their efforts to promote tourism. He expressed confidence that Maldives will continue to be a popular travel destination.

“I assure all Maldivians that we will defeat all campaigns to boycott the tourism industry. We have the capacity to do that,” Maleeh said.

Maleeh added that it is ‘uncivilised’ to conduct campaigns to obstruct commerce for the sake of politics, and that no country in the world will pay any attention to such calls.