Maldives

The Maldives are an archipelagic country in South Asia in the Indian Ocean. It lies southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 750 kilometers (470 mi; 400 nautical miles) from mainland Asia. The chain of 26 atolls stretches from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south (across the equator).

Until the early 1970s, the Maldives remained largely unknown to tourists, only 189 islands are home to their 447,137 inhabitants. The other islands are used exclusively for economic purposes, of which tourism and agriculture are the dominant ones. Tourism accounts for 28% of GDP and over 60% of Maldives’ foreign exchange earnings. More than 90% of government tax revenue comes from import taxes and tourism-related taxes.

The development of tourism has fueled the overall growth of the country’s economy. It created direct and indirect jobs and income opportunities in other related sectors. The first tourist resorts opened in 1972 with Bandos Island Resort and Kurumba Village (current name is Kurumba Maldives), which transformed the economy of the Maldives.

The holiday island of Landaa Giraavaru (Baa Atoll)

According to the Ministry of Tourism, the advent of tourism in 1972 transformed the economy, quickly shifting from reliance on fishing to tourism. In just three and a half decades, industry has become the main source of income. Tourism was also the country’s largest foreign exchange earner and the largest contributor to GDP. In 2008, 89 resorts in the Maldives offered over 17,000 beds and welcomed over 600,000 tourists annually. In 2019, more than 1.7 million visitors came to the islands.

The number of resorts increased from 2 to 92 between 1972 and 2007. In 2007, more than 8,380,000 tourists visited the Maldives.

The country has six Maldives Coral Mosques listed as UNESCO Tentative Sites.