A social media post by Maldivian authorities could cost the country millions of dollars in lost tourism revenue amid growing calls for a boycott of the country by Indian travelers.
“We have seen a 40% drop in bookings in the last two days,” Ankit Chaturvedi, vice president and global head of marketing at India-based travel software company RateGain, said on Tuesday.
“The decline appears to be even greater as most people book on weekends. [bookings] It should have gone up,” he told CNBC Travel.
Travel bookings to the Maldives have plummeted following the diplomatic dispute that erupted last week. series of posts Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s account has appeared on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The posts showed him snorkeling, sitting by the water and meeting people from Lakshadweep, in what he sees as a covert attempt to siphon visitors from the island nation. There were also people.
Amid reports that thousands of Indian travelers have canceled their trips to the Maldives, one of India’s leading travel booking sites, EaseMyTrip, has announced: Flight bookings from India to Maldives are temporarily suspended.
According to the Indian Express, some travel agents in India have canceled bookings to the Maldives and removed Maldives photos from their websites, replacing them with the Indian islands of Lakshadweep, Andaman, Nicobar Islands, or recommending tourists to go to Sri Lanka.
The conflict has focused global attention on the little-known islands of Lakshadweep. Like the Maldives, the Lakshadweep Islands are a picturesque region of sandy atolls, coral reefs, and crystal clear waters.
But the Maldives, located about 540 miles to the south, is India’s preferred playground. Maldives tourism statistics show that by 2023, more than one in 10 arrivals will come from India, making it the country’s largest source market, followed by Russia and China.
However, there were almost twice as many British tourists, and almost twice as many Italians, visiting the Maldives in the first week of January, compared to those from India, which fell to fourth place in the number of visitors.
In the absence of Chinese outbound travelers, Indians are expected to emerge as the region’s travel powerhouse in 2023 and become the fourth largest travel spender in the world by 2030.
If the calls for #BoycottMaldives continue, millions of dollars could become a stakeholder.
Chaturvedi said that while it is difficult to estimate the exact loss to the Maldives, “India drove $380 million worth of tourists to the Maldives last year, which is significant.”
The post that triggered it
Some blamed Modi’s post for causing the debacle, even though he did not mention the Maldives, which has lost support in India following the election of Maldives President Mohamed Muiz in 2023.
Muiz ran a campaign called “”.The “India Out” policy is in contrast to the “India First” policy of the Maldives Democratic Party. He also broke with long-standing tradition by choosing China as the destination of his first state visit this week, a move widely seen as disrespectful to India.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
However, some say the uproar began when Maldives supporters enraged online by comparisons with Lakshadweep and posted negative comments about India’s ability to compete in resorts and hospitality.
According to Reuters, Maldivian Deputy Minister Marsha Sharif, Maryam Siuna, and Abdullah Mazoom Majid called Modi a “clown,” “terrorist,” and “Israel’s puppet” on X, and made various insults. Ta.
Moosa Zameer, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives Tried to distance country from commentswrote to X that the statement was “unacceptable and does not reflect the official position of the #MaldivesGovernment.”
Three officials were suspended over the weekend over social media posts, the news agency said.
But since then, the turmoil has only intensified, underscoring the travel industry’s exposure to local geopolitical developments and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.
Careless pushing?
Chaturvedi said he could not say whether Indian travelers are rescheduling their trips to Lakshadweep.
“We can’t track this because not enough surgeries are being done,” he said. According to TripAdvisor, there are only 13 hotels on the archipelago.
Chaturvedi said he expected the boycott to “pass quickly” given the volatile nature of the outrage on social media.
But he said public demand for domestic travel will have far greater staying power. Trending hashtags like #ExploreIndianIslands are being pushed online by everyday travelers to Bollywood celebrities like Akshay Kumar.
Chaturvedi said the call to travel within India “will be a long-term challenge. It’s a big challenge for the government.”
The agenda likely received a bigger boost than those behind Prime Minister Modi’s serene seaside photos imagined.
