Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #35
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ASIA PACIFIC INBOUND<br />
TRENDING DESTINATIONS<br />
MALDIVES: AIRLINES STEP-UP FREQUENCIES<br />
FOLLOWING QATAR AIRWAYS BAN<br />
How could the recent crisis between Qatar and its<br />
neighbours also have a ripple effect on Maldives’<br />
tourism? The Maldives are among the Muslim<br />
countries that decided to cut off diplomatic ties<br />
with Qatar last June.<br />
From January to May, tourism growth to the<br />
Maldives accelerated. The archipelago received<br />
575,000 international travellers, up by 5.8% over<br />
the same period of 2016 with Europe’s market<br />
share reaching 50.8% of all arrivals.<br />
Until June, Qatar Airways flew twice a day from<br />
Doha to Male with an Airbus A330-300 offering,<br />
on average, a daily capacity of 500 to 600 seats.<br />
However, its market share remained small.<br />
According to the Maldives Civil Aviation, Qatar<br />
Airways transported 77,000 passengers in 2015,<br />
a market share of 5.1%. The airline remains far<br />
behind Emirates (280,000 passengers), Sri Lankan<br />
(273,000), Singapore<br />
Airlines (132,000) and<br />
two local carriers.<br />
New flights are,<br />
however, compensating<br />
Qatar’s departure. In<br />
July, Etihad increased<br />
weekly frequencies<br />
from 7 to 11; in<br />
August, Thai AirAsia<br />
launches a daily flight<br />
from Bangkok. This<br />
coming winter, Air<br />
France will inaugurate<br />
two weekly services from Paris, Alitalia will propose<br />
three flights/week from Rome while Aeroflot will<br />
increase its Moscow frequencies from 3 to 5 weekly<br />
services<br />
© Gzzz.<br />
A Trans Maldivian<br />
Airways floatplane to<br />
the north of Bathala<br />
island, Maldives
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