On Tuesday (9th January), Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu urged China to “intensify” its efforts and send more tourists to the archipelago. The request comes at a time when Indian tourists are reportedly cancelling their trips to the Maldives en-masse in a backlash to his Ministers’ disparaging remarks against India and Indians.
On the second day of his ongoing five-day state visit to China, Muizzu addressed the Maldives Business Forum in Fujian Province. During his address, he urged China to increase the influx of Chinese tourists to the Maldives. According to a readout posted on his official website, Muizzu said, “China was our (Maldives’) number one market pre-Covid, and it is my request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position.”
At the event, he described China as the archipelago’s “closest” ally. He said, “China remains one of our closest allies and development partners.”
As per Maldivian media, Maldives has signed a USD 50 million project with China to develop an integrated tourism zone in the Arabian Sea islands.
According to Muizzu speech, he also praised Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project. He claimed that the project “delivered the most significant infrastructure projects witnessed in Maldivian history.”
Meanwhile, the Maldives Tourism Ministry shared data indicating that in 2023, the highest number of visitors to the Maldives came from India, with 209,198 Indian tourists. Russia came second with 209,146 arrivals, and China was in third place with 187,118 arrivals.
In 2022, Maldives received the highest number of tourists from India with 240,000 arrivals. Russia followed India closely with 198,000 tourists, and Britain ranked third that year with over 177,000 arrivals.
Before COVID, China occupied the leading position in Maldives with over 280,000 tourists. But Beijing is currently struggling to revive its domestic and foreign tourism because of a nearly four-year lockdown policy which was coupled with the continued slowdown of its economy.
It is important to note that the Maldivian President appealed to China to send more tourists as it is facing a backlash from India. Its tourism sector is taking a hit after several ministers and members of the ruling party made derogatory remarks against Indians and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the latter’s visit to Lakshadweep.
While Indian social media users argued that Lakshadweep has the potential to replace Maldives, PM Modi had made no mention of it or any other nation during his trip. Yet the jittery Maldivian Ministers and users perceived it as a threat to its tourism potential and made uncouth commentary triggering a backlash from India.
Maldives government facing criticism from its opposition
Earlier, it was reported that Maldivian opposition has demanded the removal of their President Muizzu after several ruling leaders mocked India and PM Modi. Evidently, the minority leader in the Maldivian Parliament, Ali Azim, on Monday, called for the sacking of the archipelago’s President Mohamed Muizzu.
Azim called for steps to remove the Maldivian President from office including initiation of a vote of no confidence against him.
In response to Maldivian users’ and politicians’ uncalled-for racial commentary, trends like #BoycottMaldives, and cancellation of trips to Maldives are picking steam in India. In a firefighting bid, the Maldivian Foreign Ministry tried to distance itself from its Minister’s disparaging remarks against India and the Indian PM. It said that the government is aware of “derogatory remarks” on social media platforms against foreign leaders adding that the personal views do not represent its position.
Click here, to read details about the ongoing diplomatic row between India and Maldives and how a post by Mr Sinha, following PM Modi’s trip to Lakshadweep, triggered a sequence of events leaving the Maldivian President under dock.
Further, the Maldives government had suspended three of its ministers – Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna, and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid amid diplomatic tensions with India.
