Shapes of the Maldives Islands

The Atolls of the Maldives are very complex structures and the country itself is formed from 26 natural atolls which are now divided into 20 for administrative purposes.

Built vigilantly over thousands of years, like necklaces draped along an undersea plateau, 1,200 coral islands, each island is unique in its shape and full of wonders. These ring shaped coral structures can be tens of kilometres in diameter with individual reefs large enough to support the beautiful islands.

A British Captain Robert Moresby drew the first accurate maritime charts of the Maldives in 1834-36 and they were used by Maldivian navigators to sail through Maldives until the 1990s.

Perhaps one of the most interesting features of the Maldives, apart from its breath taking beauty, is the unique shapes of the islands. From about, we could spot islands with a green, white, turquoise blue surrounded by navy blue or deep blue combination. Again, this could vary in unimaginable shapes, at time only the sand deposit shifts around the island, changing the shapes of the island seasonally and some island look really interesting from the time of its creation.

Here is some of the visual process of the most beautiful islands in the world in the making.  Largely the islands take share similar to the base reef the island is built on.

On some rare cases where the reef is excessively large, and the island that come through the surface is small, it may take many different shapes before settling with vegetation where roots or lose coral may define boundaries.  This is how the islands are “born”.

This is an interesting shape of reef which i thought was worth sharing.

First that little island roots out from the depth of the Indian Ocean. Than we see little island or sand bank buds from the reef and starts collecting drifting waste, woods and almost anything that will prepare the sand bank capable of attracting birds of seed.  Than little greens patches starts appears.

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Here is the same process with different shape of the islands.

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It is sad that at the end we go and damage the beauty in the name of life, development and living. Male’, as and island would have been a beautiful place now no more!

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Here are some of the islands which are distinctively different and beautiful in their shape.

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Maldives Holidays 2010

The way the world economy is trending the tourists from world over will have a good treat to travel to the Maldives in 2010. There is an overall increase in supply of flight seats and hotel beds in the Maldives. This combined with Global financial crisis, the market has changed from sellers’ to buyers’ thereby increasing the bargaining power of buyers pulling down the ADR (average daily rate) for the traveller advantage.

Maldives is going through a time that it has never been through before, even during the time of natural and man-made disasters such as tsunami and 9/11. Predictions are that there might even be some unsold hotel beds through Christmas and New year in the Maldives. For an experienced traveller this might be an opportunity to get an extreme value for money and for those who want to visit the Maldives for the first time, this is the TIME!

Try some of these large hotel and travel groups

Universal Resorts
Villa Hotels
Sun Hotels
AAA Hotels
J Resorts
Crown Tours
Inner Maldives
Intour Maldives
Lets Go Maldives
100 percent Maldives

7 nights from £1945 pp at Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort & Spa, Maldives

Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort & Spa, Maldives : 7 nights from £1945 pp – SAVE £1895pp – DEPARTS 4th October 2009

Recently opened in July, this ultra-luxurious resort is the first of its kind to be found south of the equator in the Maldives. Seven nights are available on a full board basis from £1945 pp, saving £1895 pp.

Shangri-La's Villingili Resort and Spa Maldives

This includes international flights from London and onwards to Gan, transfers to and from the island, a CHI spa experience for 2, a guided nature trail tour, a bicycle tour and 7 nights full board accommodation in a pool villa with a private pool. Based on two sharing, departing on 4th October 2009.

For more information please visit Shangri-La Maldives

Shangri-La Villiongili Maldives Photos

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Read more about Maldives Resorts

Stay green – guilt-free travel with Design Hotels

Alila Villas Hadahaa

Surrounded by turquoise waters and fine white beaches, Alila Villas Hadahaa offers the ultimate Maldivian experience. Guests at this all-villa resort can choose from one of 14 stilted, over-water Aqua Villas or 36 Island Villas. All living spaces feature vast sliding windows that afford stunning ocean views.

In-resort facilities include two swimming pools, a fully-equipped gym, a Maldivian speciality restaurant offering a sampling of local and regional cuisine and a main restaurant, a library and a star-gazing deck. Alila Villas Hadahaa is the first property in the Maldives to achieve the prestigious Green Globe “Building, Planning and Design” benchmark and was designed to best adapt to the tropical climate and natural environment of the island. This includes rainwater harvesting, waste treatment, high roofed areas and open ceilings. To confirm their local social responsibility, the resort has just launched a “Gift-to-Share” programme. Guests can also participate by donating to support any of the three community programmes that the resort has initiated. This includes building up a reference and research library in the local schools; re-introducing Maldivian traditional crafts into primary schools; and introducing community farming projects.

alila villa hadahaa design maldives

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Alila Villas is one the newest and hotels bringing about the new hotel design trends in the Maldives.

Alila Villas Hadahaa is set on a tropical island in the North Huvadhoo Atoll, about 400 km to the south from Male international airport.

The islands here feature diverse landscapes covered by lush vegetation such as palm, coconut and banyan trees and tropical flowers, and fringed by pristine sandy beaches. The diving is unbeatable with long stretches of unspoilt coral reefs and a huge abundance of marine life unequalled by other visited locations in the Maldives. From lazing on an empty beach to breathtaking ocean adventures, Alila Villas Hadahaa will offer the absolute best experiences of the Maldives.

Alila Villas Hadahaa
H.Asfaam, Bodufungadu Magu, Male’
Republic of Maldives
P : +960 682 8888
F : +960 682 7777
E: hadahaa@alilahotels.com

Read more at Travel Daily News

Island Holidays to tap Bollywood segment for Maldives

Will also promote honeymoon and leisure segment

Island Holidays a Mumbai-based consolidator for Maldives now plans to tap the Bollywood segment by facilitating movie producers with shooting locations in the island nation and also arrange their travel plans. Elaborating on the plans for promoting Maldives through Bollywood, Aman Bhatia, Partner, Island Holidays said, “We recently facilitated the shooting of Kites, a movie by Rakesh Roshan in Maldives. We are in talks with Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) to promote movie shoots and advertisements at different locations in Maldives through Island Holidays and we are expecting it to materialise within a month or so.”

From the 1900 islands that form Maldives, there are certain islands where there is no habitation and are used for picnics by locals. Island Holidays will be promoting these islands and also the local villages for shooting, though to access these islands one needs government’s permission. To tap the Bollywood segment, the company will promote their offerings through their network of Bollywood producers. “Our offerings will also be promoted through actor Kumar Gaurav who is a part of the company,” stated Bhatia. It will also organise familiarisation trips for produces to get a feel of the destination. Apart from promoting the destination through Bollywood, Island Holidays will also promote the honeymoon and leisure segment for Maldives along with other destinations like Sarawak in Malaysia, Turkey, Tanzania and Fiji.

Source:travelbizmonitor.com

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.

Kingfisher to start operations to Maldives

Kingfisher Airlines, an Indian based private airline, has announced that it would offer flights to seven more international destinations over the next three months.

According to Kingfisher Airlines Vice-President (Global Sales), Siva Ramachandran the destinations includes Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Dhaka, Dubai and Maldives.

In addition the company is planning to extend to other international destinations in the Gulf such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. To cater for the proposed expansion, VP Ramachandran says that they are seeking Indian government’s approval to hire foreign crew.

Kingfisher Airlines is an airline based in Bangalore, India. It operates 218 flights a day and has a network of 38 destinations, with regional and long-haul international services and utilizes eight A320 aircrafts.

Many in Maldives believe that the commencement of operations to Male’ by King Fisher would bring an end to the endless waiting lists and ease the present difficulties faced with travelling public.