MALDIVES: Tourists enjoying the sun and sand at the Maldives' famed luxury island resorts have barely put down their cocktails during the political crisis rocking Asia's newest democracy

Record ID: 344172

  • Title: MALDIVES: Tourists enjoying the sun and sand at the Maldives' famed luxury island resorts have barely put down their cocktails during the political crisis rocking Asia's newest democracy
  • Date: 14th February 2012
  • Summary: VIHAMANFUSHI, MALDIVES (FEBRUARY 11, 2012) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO RESORT VARIOUS OF TOURISTS LEAVING RESORT BY SPEED BOAT MAIN LOBBY OF RESORT VARIOUS OF TOURISTS ON THE BEACH DRINKING WHITE WINE (SOUNDBITE) (English) POLISH TOURIST, EWA KORZAN-SOBIERAJ SAYING: "We've heard there are some riots there. Of course we were a little bit anxious about what's going to happen but the people here try to calm us down and they are saying everything is OK, and we really don't notice that something is going on on the islands. Here everything is normal."
  • Embargoed: 29th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Maldives, Maldives
  • Country: Maldives
  • Topics: Politics,Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVA38K7UDZNUUX1PB2AREIV83HU0
  • Story Text: Just 10 minutes' boat ride from the capital island of Male, site of a police mutiny that led to ex-president Mohamed Nasheed's departure last week and ensuing clashes, lies the paradise most people associate with the Indian Ocean archipelago.
    Step off the 15-metre power boat, replete with an air-conditioned cabin and leather seats, that whisks you to the dock at Kurumba resort on Vihamanafushi, and you are immediately in the land of luxury, water sports and relaxation.
    Kurumba is the genesis of the luxury tourism concept that changed the face and economy of the Maldives, a chain of 1,192 coral-ringed islands located to India's southwest, with its establishment in 1972.
    The explosion of resorts after Kurumba transformed the islands from a remote outpost reliant on fishing, to a destination favoured by Hollywood stars, honeymooners and others who can afford hideaway holidays where huts suspended over the water routinely cost over $1,000 a night.
    At the five-star Kurumba, a basic room costs $225 a night, while a private villa replete with butler and a private pool costs $2,200 a night. On the menus, a quarter-hour on a jet ski will set you back $70, and a pizza, around $25.
    Holidaymakers said on Saturday (February 11) they felt safe and unaffected by the crisis in the capital, which sparked angry scenes on the streets of Male last week.
    Following the sudden change of power at the top, riot police scuffled with protesters as former president Nasheed said he had been forced to step down in a coup.
    But as talks continued in a bid to quell tension, as far as Polish lawyer Ewa Korzan- Sobieraj was concerned, any turmoil was far away across the glassine turquoise waters at her sand-dusted feet.
    "We've heard there are some riots there. Of course we were a little bit anxious about what's going to happen but the people here try to calm us down and they are saying everything is OK, and we really don't notice that something is going on on the islands. Here everything is normal," Ewa Korzan-Sobieraj said sipping a glass of white wine alongside her husband on a chaise lounge. The couple were on a 10-day escape from winter's bite in Warsaw, Poland.
    Tourism officially accounts for 30 percent of the Maldives' $2.1 billion economy, but Sim Mohamed Ibrahim, secretary-general of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry, has said it is closer to 75-80 percent.
    The Maldives, for nine centuries an Islamic sultanate, now has 101 resorts, nearly all of them on uninhabited islands reached by speedboat or seaplanes that criss-cross the skies over the 90,000 square-kilometre archipelago.
    That segregation is by design, both as part of the Robinson Crusoe get-away-from-it-all experience the resorts offer, and to protect the religious sensibilities of Maldivians, all 330,000 of whom are Sunni Muslims.
    Engineer Abdul Wafi, an Egyptian who lives in Paris, said the political tension hadn't interfered with his honeymoon.
    "Then we thought, 'Oh really, do you really have problems here, political problems here?', because we did not feel anything," Wafi chuckled as a seaplane roared overhead.
    The Maldives' "one island, one resort" concept has been a saving grace amid the resent turmoil, said Jason Kruse, Kurumba's general manager.
    "We have seen some cancellations, not a huge amount. But I only think those cancellations are because people really don't understand the destination. This is a magical place with one island, one resort. And each island is just its own world. It's a little bit apart, and one island can be completely different to another," he said.
    However tourism officials say if the political crisis continues, the consequent bad publicity could hurt tourism at a time when the Maldivian economy is suffering.
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