i havent been blogging for long time. Not sure if anyone visit this blog anymore. But i am still here waiting for something good to happen sitting in my small office. Dreaming to have a stake on the changing tourism. my last atempt to of to geting a resort failed with a lucky draw of more than 2000 applicants. The number i had was so unlucky that i was not even close to the winner's number.
But inspite of all. i must say Maldives has been doing good now, interms of policy and changing paterns. But what is surprising is with this magnitude of proposed resorts the real mechanics of the scene is totally ignored. or perhaps not understood by those who put forwards 100s of islands for bid.
You see my point. What i am trying to say is even though goverment big many many resorts there are no normal locals who can efford to make it. there is no invesment plans. Means all the resorts again one way or other goes to the same ppl who have already resorts. if a small guy win, he will have to give or sell it other. but few lucky ones manage to get partnerships. but no one really knows how the agreement is drawn finally. is it 5% vs 95%. or what
What is really needed is invesment bank, a bank who is ready to give loans on who ever who get the bid done.
May be it will happen soon, if that happens a Maldives Blogger like me will want to be the first person to open their door. hehe
Showing posts with label maldives tourism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maldives tourism. Show all posts
Monday, March 3, 2008
Monday, January 15, 2007
Maldives - through the eyes of a travel agent
Maldives is so sellable? One might wonder when he thinks of the beautiful coral islands with those green palm trees, azure lagoon and white sandy beaches. It can be easily convinced to a person with one of those Michael Friedel’s postcard, where a palm tree bends over to Kuda Bandos Lagoon. Wow one will gaze….
For Travel agents this is a money factory! Perhaps that is why you see almost all big brands never let their eyes off Maldives. Like Kouni, TUI, Thomas Cook, Nickerman, Hays & Javis and many more. Perhaps that is why they make huge charter flight operations to Maldives. I remember sitting with Mr. Champa Afeef in refreshment at a MATI meeting, and as he described how they managed operating resorts in 70’s. For sure he and many others are the ambassadors of tourism. I remember an interview by Mr. Koli Umar Manik describing the very first tourist group came to Maldives and how they managed to cook lunch for them with local style biriyani. And later the tourists didn’t like it.
For me they are absolutely happy with their achievements! I remember Mr. Deen telling how he managed to bring tourists to Bandos with local dhonis, sometimes with rough seas. I met one of the first tourists to Maldives and he described one of the events which occurred at that time. He was sat to travel to Meeru and the captain of the dhoni mistakenly went to another island. Because the same island from far look liked same. For him the only way he could describe his destination island is with few extra long palm trees. I remember sitting with my fellow colleagues back in resorts which I worked, and how they described the first experiences in 70s. I remember them telling about club nature where all tourists stay nude.
Maldives has grown to become one of the most favorite tourist destination and all the tour operators and travel agents through out the world is anxious to sell it! This is a lucrative industry and a gold mine. Not only you could sell it easily but you could put high margin. Interestingly the reality for fellow local travel agents isn’t same! They are much left behind as the industry grew. And awkwardly with this magnitude of tourist industry, Maldives never realized to produce capable local travel agencies. Although difficult to digest, the industry never saw the need to empower local travel agents. The poor local travel agents keep working until they go bankrupt.
When you see though the eyes of a local travel agent, Maldives doesn’t fascinate him, nor is it a money factory. Neither has it produced gold for him. Not even it is tourist’s heaven for his clients. Than why is he on to this difficult business? A good question with an easy answer! This is because this is most natural industry to be in, the only industry to do business apart from fishing industry is tourism, and for those who have tourism background their primary interest become to be a travel agent. The only problem is there is no mechanized system in place for the agencies to operate.
It is very important that there should be local agencies well operated in Maldives for the very survival of this industry, for the long run and sustainable development of this industry. But who is there to address this question…. A never ending story…
For Travel agents this is a money factory! Perhaps that is why you see almost all big brands never let their eyes off Maldives. Like Kouni, TUI, Thomas Cook, Nickerman, Hays & Javis and many more. Perhaps that is why they make huge charter flight operations to Maldives. I remember sitting with Mr. Champa Afeef in refreshment at a MATI meeting, and as he described how they managed operating resorts in 70’s. For sure he and many others are the ambassadors of tourism. I remember an interview by Mr. Koli Umar Manik describing the very first tourist group came to Maldives and how they managed to cook lunch for them with local style biriyani. And later the tourists didn’t like it.
For me they are absolutely happy with their achievements! I remember Mr. Deen telling how he managed to bring tourists to Bandos with local dhonis, sometimes with rough seas. I met one of the first tourists to Maldives and he described one of the events which occurred at that time. He was sat to travel to Meeru and the captain of the dhoni mistakenly went to another island. Because the same island from far look liked same. For him the only way he could describe his destination island is with few extra long palm trees. I remember sitting with my fellow colleagues back in resorts which I worked, and how they described the first experiences in 70s. I remember them telling about club nature where all tourists stay nude.
Maldives has grown to become one of the most favorite tourist destination and all the tour operators and travel agents through out the world is anxious to sell it! This is a lucrative industry and a gold mine. Not only you could sell it easily but you could put high margin. Interestingly the reality for fellow local travel agents isn’t same! They are much left behind as the industry grew. And awkwardly with this magnitude of tourist industry, Maldives never realized to produce capable local travel agencies. Although difficult to digest, the industry never saw the need to empower local travel agents. The poor local travel agents keep working until they go bankrupt.
When you see though the eyes of a local travel agent, Maldives doesn’t fascinate him, nor is it a money factory. Neither has it produced gold for him. Not even it is tourist’s heaven for his clients. Than why is he on to this difficult business? A good question with an easy answer! This is because this is most natural industry to be in, the only industry to do business apart from fishing industry is tourism, and for those who have tourism background their primary interest become to be a travel agent. The only problem is there is no mechanized system in place for the agencies to operate.
It is very important that there should be local agencies well operated in Maldives for the very survival of this industry, for the long run and sustainable development of this industry. But who is there to address this question…. A never ending story…
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Welcome to my blog
Inspite many of us been working in tourism industry of Maldives, few actually write about this industry. There have been many occasions while working in this industry we felt like telling the management of the resort to change that. or telling the ministry to change this. The industry's feelings are yet to be shared. Ofcourse we see some magazines, few articles always talkign how beautiful Maldives is. But there are many facets which we never discussed. Welcome to my blog, here atleast you will see opinion of one of those person's working in this industry
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