President to visit Italy to attract more tourists, can he?

President Mohamed Nasheed has announced that he will be visiting Italy on the 14 th of this month and that the visit is aimed at increasing the number of Italians tourists arriving Maldives. President said the target is to bring in an additional 5000 Italian tourists this year. President Nasheed made the announcement speaking at a press conference held at the President’s Office on Monday.

Speaking at the press conference President said world tourism industry has slowed down and that he believed Maldives tourism will be exceptionally slow during June and July this year. He said he will be working to bring in more Italians during this period to offset the losses.
He noted that tourists initially came to Maldives from clubs and that most Italians came from clubs like Vacanze and Valtur. He said clubs like these used to sell Maldives at attractive prices and that prices went up as a direct of the increase in the lease rent of the resort islands. He further said such high prices have caused difficulties for clubs to bring in regular tourists to Maldives.

President said during the period when Maldives were marketed at low prices, number of Italians tourists was considerable and that it declined by some 20 percent when the government increased rental charges of the resorts. The losses incurred by the tourism industry as a result of the decline in number of arrivals far out weighed the additional revenue the government generated by increasing the rental fees of the resorts President said.

He also revealed that all expenses to participate in Milan Fair this year will borne by the Italian government and that discussions on the matter is underway with Italian Ambassador accredited to Maldives and Italian Trade Minister.

Some Facts on Italian Market for our President

1- December 2000 ended with 106451 Italians visiting the Maldives. This is a 20% growth over 1999.

2- End of 2000, Italian market share among the generating markets was 22%. Overall tourism arrivals grew by 8.7% in 2000.

3- 2001, Italian Arrivals grew by 8.7% with claiming 25.1% market share overall. The same year, overall tourist arrival growth was negative at -1.3%

4- End of 2002 there was negative growth of -0.7% on Italian arrivals and maintained a market share of 23%. In 2002 the total tourist arrival to the Maldives grew by 5.1%

5- 2003, Italian market grew by 22.1% and overall market share grew to 24.9%. Overall arrival to the Maldives grew by 16.3%

6- 2004, Italian market showed a negative growth of -6.6% and the market share was reduced to 21.2%. The same year Maldives enjoyed and overall growth of 9.4%.

7- 2005, Italian market had a negative growth 46.5%, (largest single drop) and the market share was reduced to 17.7%. The same year there was an overall negative growth on the tourist arrival to the Maldives at -35.9%

8- 2006, the Italian arrivals grew by 69% while the market share was increased to 19.8%. The same year total tourist arrival to the Maldives grew by 52.3%

9- 2007, there was a negative growth of 1.42% on overall tourist arrival from Italy. Overall growth of arrival to the Maldives from all generating markets increased by12.29%.

10- 2008, Italian market had a negative growth of -11.4% and held a market share of 15.2%. The same year Maldives tourist arrival grew by 1.1%

Why is it the way it is?

1- Italian market trends fluctuated along with the time frame between 1972 -2008
2- Propensity to travel and purchasing power parity remained unimpressive over the years
3- Short haul destinations become more accessible and cheaper with comparable product

What have we done?

1- We have failed to predict these trends and take preventive measures
2- Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) has over the years equated marketing and advertising
3- Ministry of Tourism would have too much control on MTPB
4- Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has failed to realize the importance of the medium range markets and charter markets
5- Charter Airlines found it too expensive to run the operation to the Maldives (get the corruption out of the way)
6- MOT/MTPB is not properly armed with statistics and research capabilities, thus resulting in blunt decisions costing the country far too much
7- New islands with controlled rent was a disaster as there is no way to control the prices for market mix maintenance in the destination.
8- No proper leadership in one of the most important organizations (MTPB) in the Maldives.
9- Failed to realize the emerging markets and look to grow them for benefits in the long run.