Future of Tourism in the Maldives with the Minister of Tourism

Welcome to another episode of Sangu Stories!

Over the years, the tourism industry in the Maldives has become one of the leading destinations in the world and one of the global success stories in 2021. In this episode, we have the Minister of Tourism, Dr Abdulla Mausoom as a guest speaker.

The Minister shares a wealth of interesting insights on recovery, the journey of innovation and sustainability-driven tourism, integrated resort developments, and the industry's promising future.

For any further information or assistance, please contact Aminath.Haadhee@ritzcarlton.com, Marketing Communications Manager.

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For more information about The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands, visit our website

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Transcript

Mark Hehir: 0:00

Welcome to Sangu Stories. We're excited to bring this first Ritz-Carlton to the Maldives, a destination renowned for service and beauty. We are counting down the days to our opening and we are delighted to invite the Minister of Tourism. Dr. Abdulla, Mausoom to discuss more about this beautiful destination. Welcome Dr. Mausoom, very nice to have you here today and thank you for breaking our busy schedule and joining us on today's podcast.

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 0:29

Thank you. Thank you. We're very and I used to be here. Yeah,

Mark Hehir: 0:34

Thank you. You know, we've got so much happening with our pre-opening and in Maldives, tourism is bouncing back and proving to be another incredible success story in the world tourism. And one of my first questions I wanted to ask you today was about, tourism itself in Maldives. It's the most successful industry in Maldives and against all the odds. As I mentioned in a year with the pandemic has provided one of the world's best destinations again, and congratulations. What's the secret behind the Maldives success in your eyes?

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 1:10

I'm well, thank you very much. I think the biggest secret is the transparency. People knew what we are offering when President decided to open up for tourism. Then even that vision was based on a lot of stakeholder discussions. And since then we have operated on a very simple formula whereby we wanted to give the maximum safety to tourists employees and the general public, but with minimum inconvenience. And that is what we communicated. We had a very simple form of communication to tell what tourists are supposed to do in the Maldives when they are coming at these difficult times. And our geography itself was there. Then the unity one that we had a whole, we had an approach whereby all of us, all of you, everybody was engaged. We had the whole of government, whole of health sector, whole of tourism industry, whole of community councils, volunteers, everybody was engaged, travel trade partners and other governments. So that enabled us to give that message aloud and clear that Maldives is one of the safest destination. And I think that is the main thing. People after coming here, they felt safe and that message was communicated loud and clear via podcasts, webcast or other social media, Instagram, FB, LinkedIn. So Maldives got a brand that it is very safe.

Mark Hehir: 2:56

I think you're right. And having been here for myself more than 20 years, that's, it's always been that natural allure that it's one island, one destination. There's a lot of possibilities to be isolated in that sense on your own Island. And, I think a lot of the Maldivian repeaters have and Tour Operators that have supported Maldives for the last 40-50 years. Understood that very quickly, if we could open there's a trust there, which is, as you mentioned, it's very true. You know, you've started in the hospitality industry at a very young age, like most of us and worked in several resorts yourself. I'm sure that gives great insight. What is your experience been like in hospitality? Is that your passion?

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 3:42

I live tourism. Tourism is my life. As you said, I started tourism career a long, long, long way back in 1985. At that time ministry was just a department. So I joined as an administrative officer, went to the airport to give information to the guests. And I was engaged in all the roles of the ministry was doing at that time at an administrative level, inspecting the resorts, monitoring quality and like that. Then after that time, I went into, I became a lecturer in the tourism school. Then, then I was on and off studying and working, studying, working in consultancy to tourism industry, meeting people. And then many of the managers today, they are resort managers- are my former students. So it's really, it makes me very proud to see them in responsible posts, in different resorts. Some are flying very, very high, and it's an honour to see them fly that high. And I spent about 10 years abroad studying, three years in Malaysia, about two and half in Germany, then again about five in UK. So altogether a big chunk of my life is abroad study, but I have always had a connection with the industry and a very passionate about its development, particularly in terms of the sustainable dimension. And that is how I ended up doing my thesis, my PhD thesis on sustainable tourism development, it's on environment, sustainability, social sustainability, and economic sustainability. And, now that, earlier, I was also Tourism Minister sometime back and before that I was head of Tourism Promotion Board. And in between I was an MP and I managed the biggest resort in the Maldives, Sun Island resort. Yes. And now, again, back in the ministry. And also that was the time I was the head of the portfolio for a short time, Ministry of Environment, Energy and Water. All in all I love the industry, the environmental component of it, people component of it. And the challenges really drives me. Yeah. Earlier when I joined Tourism Promotion Board, just within four months, September, yes just within 4 months. We had that unfortunate incident of Indian Ocean tsunami. So I was engaged in recovery that time. And now this time, I was an ambassador in Singapore and they called me, Mausoom come here. Oh, we want you to take, take care of the Tourism Ministry. And, because of the pandemic, I thought it is a time that I'm needed here. Yeah,

Mark Hehir: 6:52

Absolutely. You know, with your experience, the office of, in my eyes always, it's been such an important office to hold, and to have a good broad range of experience that you've got. It's really great because you can see it from different eyes, which I appreciate a lot because sometimes, in these most important roles, we need that balance and that experience. And I think you can really, dig in and drill into the areas, especially in critical times, like now. So I can, and we can see that, which is great. And, we're super excited, being out here in the islands, knowing that someone like yourself is there. So let me talk about us being in the islands and Fari Islands is our new destination within the destination, in the North Male, that's all, and we're only 45 minutes from Male, but you know, it's been a, it's a lovely development. You know, and really the focus for us was developing a luxury integrated development, where there was more to it than just one island, but there was a collective of islands, but the experiences were unique in themselves. But you know, this is about bringing new things. We have seen many new ideas in this fascinating place in the destination over many years. It always surprises me, but doesn't, in sometimes how we reinvent, whether it's the first underwater restaurant and spa and these types of things in the world, what do you think the future is for tourism?

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 8:20

Oh my God. Future, you see the future, you see us, our products going underwater. Yeah. We've already, we are there. We have got a very nice underwater restaurants, underwater spa, then over water, of course, we Maldives has become a role model. And I think, even the future projects of Maldives is going to be very, very good, very, very unique and totally out of the box. The box we live in today now today, ultra luxury was already out of the box a couple of years back, but now I'm sure that we are going to see things totally unbelievable coming up in the years to come. That's where Mark, I really thank the industry, often people will ask, why don't you be more, more engaged in regulation of the industry? I tell them tourism industry is a self-regulatory industry. It is in the interest of the industry stakeholders to make sure that everything is in good. You look after the environment, so your guests can enjoy the environment better. You look after the employees, because then you have a very energetic, motivated team and your guests will start giving a good return. They will be addicted to your resort. Other things, you know, in terms of enhancing the management, looking at a product, differentiation, all these. So, always, I think industry has been very, very good in terms of creativity, engineering, coming up with new products and then especially, many of the international brands, and that has really made, Maldives shine through a similar product. And the Maldives is so popular now because of that, we see that more international brands are coming and more ultra luxury resorts coming. Very often some people ask now that we are taking tourism to the people, to outer atolls and outer islands, sometimes people ask, Hey, aren't you going to spoil the beautiful, pristine image of the Maldives'one island, one hotel' luxury getaway image. I tell them no, because that image will still remain. You still have the chance to travel out to any airport of choice, we have so many international airports now. And from there, you have the choice to travel to your private island in any form of transport you wish, and there you are. I mean, it's total privacy, totally exclusive, very personalized tourism experiences. And at the same time, we want to make sure that Maldives this is accessible to others. So we have got mid-range hotels that are coming in different parts of the Maldives. The other products that are associated with tourism is going to be, I think catalogued better, and people will have a better choice in terms of dive sports, surfing points, fishing grounds, cultural interests of the different places in the islands, the eco systems, and the many resorts; you have lived here for so long, and you must have seen many, but, just just like resorts are so different in inhabitated islands, also very different. I think future tourism product, will be, we will have things that we cannot even imagine today. We will go more into underwater. We will use more environment-friendly technology. We will use the best of solar energy, to save the environment. Also, it's good for business itself. I say very much environment-friendly, responsible tourism developed, and more benefits to the people.

Mark Hehir: 12:49

Yeah, I think you're right. I think it just comes natural that we do need to keep evolving with the technologies. And, you know, you can see in our resort here where straightaway the, our flat roofs have been designed specifically for the solar panels and those, water villas have those solar panels. And it's almost, not a surprise it's about how we'd be at must be thinking these days and are the expected in the future. You know, every resort in the Maldives will have some form of solar and it continued to, you know, and then when batteries get more, you know, affordable and stronger and lasting, that will also be part of what happens. And, you know, we have 10% over 10% of our solar overall power use is going to be solar from day one with a, with a vision to grow. So I think that's, that's great to hear that that's still, you know, that's part of, I think that's also part of, it's probably of every sector too. I think I love going to visit small little islands and seeing that they've got a solar panel running there and, you know, it's for everybody, you know?

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 13:51

Yeah. It is. I think it's earlier days, we were kind of worried because of the storage system being more costly. Now, the technology has become more affordable and also there are alternative usage where you can feed the grid and then you get energy when you need it. All sorts of things are there. And then I think adaptation to the environment changes and making best out of it. And every everybody really welcoming tourism, earlier we would be only kind of thinking of very high yield, low density tourism that is still there, but we want some more, community integrated, tourism where college students will be able to come and have a taste and feel of the Maldives.

Mark Hehir: 14:48

Yeah, that's great. So, I mean, I've been here for many as you know, and we've opened a number of resorts and I've seen, lots of young ones grow up and then their kids grow into the issues as well. And it's always been about the people in the family for me and this Maldivian culture and how we integrate that to luxury, which, you know, the Maldivian Ladies and Gentlemen have been really amazing with me. And I've seen how the connections have been with the customers. They're just always very special. Um, so much talent there out in the Maldivian nationals. What's your thoughts on developing local talent and how we're doing that. And you've got a view for that. Yeah,

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 15:30

That is again, I'm something I'm really, really passionate about just now, today I came from a ceremony where we gave certificates to the Imams of the mosques in the resort islands, you know, each resort island has to have a mosque and that's for the staff. And also we get so many Muslim tourists now. So we had trained them, we, and so the talent to build, but what has happened, and you must have come across many Maldivians, they are very much experienced and they are very skillful, talented, hardworking. Yes. But sometimes they may not have the formal qualification that is required to go to the next step in the c areer l adder. O ne programme w e a re initiating is g iving them q ualification so t hat they can jump up the ladder. We want Maldivians to be in jobs that they love to do. They like to do, normally it is guest contact obviously and, we create the pace we are developing now. We will not be able to get enough people in the Maldivians. So the few Maldivians we have, we wish them to be in high-paid jobs that they like to do. Yes. So managerial level jobs, supervisory level jobs, jobs that are high guest contact, like butler, where you get more tips. And it requires a lot of dedication. Yes. And another area is women in tourism. So these two areas we want to focus. We have industry champions in training, you know, your resort. Also, they train a lot. There is a succession plan in many of the resorts, but we want to encourage that more. And the make sure that the future tourism, the Maldivians would be in jobs that they love to do. And more women also be in jobs. And another area that we are trying to do is we be like, I am aware of maybe have the employee village, you have, you know, but, we are also having government has plans now to have employee villages nearby their resort in an inhabited Island. Yeah. So they can go to the resort and they will be able to live with their family that has been a big challenge to today. Yes. Where families, unless your resort is nearby to where you are working, living with a family is a big challenge. Now we want to bring in the new opening of the resorts. We will have tourism in many resorts that are not very far from inhabited islands, but where sometimes you are required to stay, go and work a little bit far away from your home island. You still have the residences where you can even buy places at a reasonable place, price, or rent that place. And you can bring the family there. And that islands, if that's reasonable education systems and then the health center health systems in place. So, because I think tourism is a serious career and they can, they should be able to live their life while, serving in that area. Many young ones, when they go, it's, very, I think free, but as they grow up, when you start a family, I think then they need tha, family feeling. They need to get that.

Mark Hehir: 19:25

Yeah, they do. And, you know, you just reminded me of, you know, the times when I was in Rangali Island down in South Ari Atoll, I told back in the late nineties, when we opened and became a Hilton, not far from your neck of woods in those days, I was amazed that the, these gentlemen would travel the other side of the Maldives to work down there and not go home for, you know, maybe once or twice a year back in those days. Cause we didn't, you know, back in the nineties, there's no mobile phone. You couldn't really fly in and out. And it was, life was simple then actually, I guess that's the Maldives has changed a lot, but you know, I, now here we are over 20 years later and the young kids have been away from their father for 20 years and they haven't had a father at home. And I always remember thinking, gee, that's a whole generation and previous one probably as well, but didn't have a father figure and a family environment that's complete. And that's what you're saying. It's so important for any community.

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 20:25

Yeah, very true. Especially I think we should just applaude the tourism team for the patience and the dedication they have shown in the last couple of months. It's over a year because of the travel restrictions. They were confined to the resort because going home requires X of days quarantineand coming back because X number of them there's quarantine no, it's totally impossible for them to travel. And they have lived away from their family for all one year. And so I really appreciate their sacrifice and I've been thanking them at every occasion I get. So this occasion, so I just would like to thank all the industry, team out there for their dedication and the hard work and patience they have shown. Then they are then really, you know, one thing I have noticed even during the staff, the Tsunami and now of recovery, one of the success factors, if even if you had to reflect on your first question is we have loyal, repeat tourists, repeat tourists who knows Maldives, these who have comes to Maldives and they are loyalty is very often to the employee who served them employee team, the staff team and the resort. The resort itself is very good, but the employee in particular employee plays a very important role in bringing them the guest back to the resort. That's why we see often some not often when, when some of our staff moves from resort to A resort B, the repeat guests to resort A follows that staff to resort B. That Shows the connectivity among the staff are doing a marvelous job in our tourism recovery. And, they are thanks to them,

Mark Hehir: 22:18

You know, it's so true. And, and it will continue now forever in the day. And we will have always some times where we have to draw on that. And I can tell you through the years, whenever times got tough at the toughest times, whenever things were the most busiest, when the chips were down, it was that's when they fired up. That's when the local team like click another gear and it's almost like they're just piloting along in life and then they can go hard again. And I've never been let down like that. And, and it continues to inspire me as well to be part of it. And that's why I've been here half of my life, I guess, because of this culture, that's so strong about just giving and making it happen, you know, and that's what I love. So yeah, and I can talk for hours on, on, on the people and I, and I'm very passionate about it and our village that we've built here with, Evan and Pontiac, they've been very passionate about this being a village and how do we connect local and allow them to live as a village and how do we do family and how do we involve the local community? And we're starting up a coconut factory here where we'll do the oil and the flour and tap tody and show people how things work and try to step back a little bit in time as well. But also more importantly, give them a place outside of work that they can go and say, no branding. It's not Ritz-Carlton, this is Fari Village, you know, and let them have their space and make it amazing, you know, and then make it a learning in an integrated, village with three other islands being there. And I think that's how we hope we can be a model for some things like that as well. And we invite everyone to come and see when they can travel safely.

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 24:02

I'm also very excited about that initiative and I think it's a good thing. And that's where we have to always think of the creative models and take tourism to the next level. Yeah,

Mark Hehir: 24:15

They are, they are resource, there's no doubt you can't spend enough money on developing out. And as you said, there's not enough local talent at this stage to cover all the resorts in all the positions. So we've got to bring them up to the senior ones and, you know, I'm a very passionate person around that and integrating the best of world-class with local talent and seeing how we can grow that their skills and Ritz-Carlton coming to the Maldives is an amazing hospitality brand, as you know, and world famous over a hundred years for really developing that luxury sector. And I think our responsibility and promise to the local community is super important around development. So, and I'm sure you've heard a bit about us arriving to the Maldives as a brand. So what do you think might be a strange question, but what do you think Ritz-Carlton, Fari islands makes a difference in this destination? How do you think we can bring from your side

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 25:11

Like Maldives, earlier, we h ad this joke that when, pilots come it t akes X number of hours to come to Maldives, reach Maldives and X number of h ours to find the island where the airstrip is, so small. Then, I think over the years, Maldives started becoming very popular, made popular by popular people who have visited us writers, film stars, sports, legends, high flying b usiness p eople. And after a while, then we s tarted getting h igh f lying brands, so Ritz-Carlton and other brands that comes h ere and m akes a mark really helps the destination. And with this brands also comes a total package of the management k now-how management culture that, works as a benchmark model for others. So I'm hoping this, this initiative also will be very good. It will help us market Maldives better. It will give us room to learn. And I think, i n any good, good brand that comes here i s g oing, is going to be because the brand is already p opular and it's already, good to go, but new ones, new ones, even home brand, home invented brands are becoming very popular, landed. It has grown u p to be international brands. Maldives has g otten a lot of room for creativity. And when creative companies comes to Maldives, the products they bring up by are amazing.

Mark Hehir: 27:18

I agree. I agree, you know, the one, the villas over the water, that may have been done in other countries when they actually see how they're done here in the Maldives and developed Island concepts, you can see that that technology and understanding of what's happened here in the Maldives is then gone back. And they're trying to do that in other countries. And, and I think, there's a lot to be said about a Maldivian resort culture moving out as a brand. Definitely.

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 27:44

Yeah. I think you have a little bit right there, Mark, the products, the development, how it started, the water villas and everything. These are the, ignition points for total new dimension of tourism. Typical, islands where we, there was a time for us to, we had island resorts, you know, just X island resort. You have the name of the island and let's say Island Resort. Then later, all of them get a surname Island Resort and Spa. So all the resorts got a surname and there's a spa and now new names are coming and new things are coming, but Maldives tourism product is benchmarked elsewhere in terms of how we have developed and other countries who do not have'one island, one hotel' type of development they're coming. They want to introduce this at the meantime, I'm sure you are aware of our new country. We are going into integrated developments where one Island now we'll have more than one hotel, more than one facility. Integrated developments is going to be a way forward. We are going to introduce private islands where people can, come and just have a longer state. We are actively seeking a long stay guests who can come here and work, work in the sense, not work in the Maldives. This, you, you are working in Maldives, but you are doing your job elsewhere and you will get your accountant coming in a private jet and let you sign the checks. So he will look at my, you will stay in your nice Villa. And, do the business. And we have a real estate tourism. And, the visa that comes with the residency. In the Maldives, I think in the future is going to be very much popular for a longer stay destination. Especially if you look at last one year or so, one of our very major client base, guests were people we love and they also love the Maldives the same as the pensioners is unfortunately, COVID is not very friendly with them. And, so they haven't travelled. They have been confined to their four walls in where they were in the world. Now, I think it's time when, with the vaccine and with the added safety, I think they will start travelling and they will come and stay in Maldives for a longer, longer time because crossing borders is a hassle. Now, when you cross a border somewhere, then you might as well stay. I saw many people before they came recently. They will say Mausoom, I'm coming to Maldives, how is it there, I try to explain to them and well, they have a picture.The newcomers and they will eventually go to a resort and say, wow, now I feel safe. I can take my mask off and I feel safe. So that environment would behave. And, we just have to, promote it to the, all the corners of the world. And we will have a longer staying guests and the products like yours, it has got that dimension. You have a staff team who would look after long staying guests. There are medical facilities that can attend to medical needs of the long staying senior guests.

Mark Hehir: 31:34

No, definitely. I mean, Fari islands, with three resort islands in one village also has residential plans and land plotted for that as well. And I think therefore, you know, we must be in that scope of what's going to happen next in the Maldives. And, you know you just made me think again about the geographically, you know, we've been blessed by our geographic positioning in the world because we can pivot so well between literally Asia has been shut down in the, in the last year, but the rebounders still happened through other markets on the other side of the world and our friends from India all the way through to Russia and, and other markets into Europe. And I think that that's a dynamic part about what, you know, our success as well. And what really always amazed me is our local people embrace those languages. They connect, some of them go off and marry and stay and come back. But, where, Maldives seems to be open for anyone really, you know, I don't think there's any one that, that Maldives doesn't embrace and it's connected beautifully as a geographic.

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 32:43

Very true. If, if you just look at the Maldives, this is a popular honeymoon destination, you know, it has been, we are a dive destination, and then of course, honeymoon desstination and a honeymoon destination means each honeymoon is a potential future family. And, you know, we are getting so many family tourists, so many guests coming with their children now.

Mark Hehir: 33:11

Yeah. You know, when I was in Rangali, back in 1998, the families that were there, they had their children. And then since that time they've traveled and followed me, as you said earlier to my other resorts over time, and I've seen these kids grow up, I've seen them since I was very small. Now they're also having their own children. Yeah. But that's the beauty, right? We've, we convert, families in generational business happens and no one would have thought 20 years ago that this would be a massive family business and celebration business. But that's what it is. And events is happening. And yeah. So

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 33:52

Very true, this year, we have welcomed a guest who have been into Maldives over 60 times, you know, wow. What was extra time? This is about three trips every year, and every trip, more than two weeks, and that's a lot of Maldives time, we should be giving them a Maldivian passport.

Mark Hehir: 34:13

Hi, I know I want one, but I can't get one apparently. So thanks for your time today. I think we probably should do another podcast one day about some more subjects after we open and maybe have you be here and do it on the site.

Dr. Abdulla Mausoom: 34:27

Mark, it's really nice talking to you. And especially you have been with the industry for such a long time. You have seen the industry, come of age, but, our industry is ever evolving, ever growing with the new new products. And I'm sure, coming days you'll have more and more to talk about. The new investments we have marked this year as a year of investment. And 2022, it's our Golden Jubilee year, 50 years of Maldives Tourism. And we are got a super duper programme and we are just working on it. The programme is going to be, engaging everyone, everybody, tourists employees, general public, and it will be from extreme North to extreme South, all the islands, all the resorts. It will be a festive year, a festival here, I think in an another programme, it would be good if we can just chat about some of the events that will be happening in the Golden Year, 2022. Yeah. Thank you very much.

Mark Hehir: 35:29

We'd be looking forward to hearing more about it and we'll speak to you soon. Thanks for your time today. Really appreciate it. All right. Well, I hope you enjoyed today's podcast. Join me next time. When we discover more about The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands.