President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has declared Monday, October 3rd 2022 as a public holiday.
On Monday October 3rd 2022, Maldives will mark the 50th anniversary of tourism in Maldives.
The President's Office said the President, in accordance with the advice of his Cabinet, had decided to declare the day a public holiday.
Tourism is the largest economic industry in the Maldives, as it plays an important role in earning foreign exchange revenues and employing 25,000 people in the tertiary sector of the country. The archipelago of the Maldives is the main source of attraction to many tourists visiting the island country.
Tourism in the Maldives began in 1972. A United Nations mission on development which visited the Maldives Islands in the 1960s did not recommend tourism, claiming that the islands were not suitable. Nevertheless, Kurumba Island Resort opened its doors on October 3rd 1972 and ever since then tourism in Maldives has flourished.
The founders of the Kurumba Island Resort included local Maldivians, Mohamed Umar Maniku and Ahmed Naseem (Kerafa Naseem)
The plan was to honour National Tourism on this date. It is unclear whether this will be a public holiday in future years, or only in 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary.
Kurumba Maldives
When tourism began on the island resort, Kurumba could only accommodate 60 guests a month. An indication of the success and growth of the tourism sector is that now the 450 staff on the resort can handle 14,000 guests a month. In the years since 1972 Kurumba has matured into the Grand Hotel of the Maldives, setting the benchmark for hospitality in the region, and in the tropics at large.
