Newstrack

Maldives relaxes FDI further to develop 35 new islands

Keen to boost links with India

Reema Sisodia - Mumbai

Investing in Maldives just got easier. The country has further liberalised its investment policy making it more investment friendly and hassle-free for Indian investors. Maldives has opened doors for 35 more resort islands to be developed out of which 20 would be given solely for private investors to develop, while the other 15 would be in the hands of the government on an agreement to provide some share to locals, which in turn could be subleased to private players. At present, Maldives has in total 1,192 islands out of which approximately 87 islands are operational.

On his recent visit to India, Mahamood Shougee, minister of tourism and civil aviation, Republic of Maldives, expressed his keen interest to work closely with India and boost tourism traffic into Maldives. In an exclusive with Express Hospitality, Shougee said, "India is an extremely important market for us and we are keen to analyse the reasons for the slow tourism traffic from India to Maldives. People are definitely travelling to Maldives but not to its fullest potential. We are serious about increasing the number of flights from India into Maldives especially from Mumbai and other metros. We are in talks with Jet Airways to consider starting direct flights into Male. We want foreign investors to develop the islands and are very serious about out links with India. India for us is like a big brother and we want to grow along with it.”

According to Murad Hassan of Maldives Tourism Promotion Board, Maldives provides excellent return over investment (ROI), which makes them the leading tourism destination in terms of ROI. He explained, "The rules and regulations with regards to investment are also simplified. The procedure and technical formalities for investment have become transparent and clear with an easy to implement three-page agreement."

D J Ashar, director, Islanders Travels Pvt Ltd, who has a niche business in terms of Maldives destination selling, said, "Tapping Bollywood is also something the board is seriously considering. Certain facilities are being worked out to promote Maldives amongst the Indian film industry."