Conference Tourism, Sight-Jogging, Devastation-Tourism, and Airport weddings to spice up the Maldivian tourism industry!

Instead of just talking about new concepts of tourism it is time that we start implementing such ideas in our islands. At a time when the outlook on tourism and other economic activities are bleak it is perhaps wise to broaden our tourism options so that we can attract a wider variety of tourists to our islands. Following is a list of tourism-ideas that we could develop with relatively little effort and investment.

1. Conference Tourism: Demolish “Dharubaaruge” and build a ten storey conference facility that could cater for all sorts of conferences. Another option could be to develop a resort close to Male that is completely custom designed to host conferences and accommodate delegates. The island of Aarah which was previously used as a Presidential retreat is an ideal island to develop in this was as a Conference Resort. Either way we could promote Maldives as a relatively affordable and attractive venue for hosting various conferences and business meetings of multi-national companies.

2. Sight-jogging: Male lacks interesting tourist attractions and activities. How about introducing a service called “Sight-jogging” for those tourists who are fitness fanatics. This isn’t an original idea of mine. In fact, if you’re a fitness-conscious athlete who is also a tourist traveling in Rome; you might want to sign up for “sight-jogging”. Sightjogging offers visitors a chance to put on their jogging shoes and take a guided tour of Rome’s main attractions. Multilingual trainers/guides will meet you at your hotel and take you jogging along predefined routes based on your interests (be it artistic, historic or naturalistic). We could adopt this idea for Male and take the tourists around Male in a predetermined route that will include all interesting tourist attractions in Male’.

3. Devastation-Tourism: On the aftermath of the crippling tsunami, we had the opportunity to preserve one of the devastated islands as a tourist attraction - a place where tourists could pay to visit and see for themselves the devastation of a tsunami. If we don’t have such an island now, then we could recreate such an island with a museum of photos and artifacts from the tsunami devastation. If this is not possible, how about promoting the Tsunami Monument near Lonuziyaraikolhu as a genuine tourist attraction. We could build a small souvenir shop near the tsunami-monument and sell souvenirs and tee shirts all related to the tsunami. This too isn’t a new idea of mine. If you are in the United States, then check out “devastation tourism” with a bus tour operator Gray Line New Orleans. The company gives a 3-hour “Hurricane Katrina” tour of the hurricane devastation of 2005. Tour route includes visits to Canal Street, the Superdome, and some of the neighborhoods affected badly by the disaster.


4. Airport weddings: How about allowing tourists (both local and international tourists the facility to get married at the Male International Airport. This idea is already in practice at Amsterdam Airport. This innovative tourist-idea at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is to get married there. Whether a couple met on a flight to Bangkok or just wants to be able to go straight from ceremony to runway for their honeymoon, Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam) offers travelers the opportunity to get married at the airport. How about doing some research on this service and implement it at the Airport Hotel at Male International Airport? I’m sure even Maldivians who want to travel abroad for their honeymoon after the wedding would use this service and get married and even host the reception at the Airport Hotel before going for their honeymoon (possibly at the Airport Hotel or another local resort or even going abroad). Airport Weddings seem a cool and new idea indeed.

This list has just four ideas but there are numerous new ideas to broaden our tourism scope – ideas such as medical tourism, sports tourism, developing Dhoonidhoo Island as a resort for locals, building four or five storey buildings (hotels) at resorts, etc.
Conference Tourism, Sight-jogging, Devastation-Tourism and Airport weddings could be the start of many such new ideas for our tourism industry.