Maldives , still a magnet for luxury travellers
MALE – That the Maldives will continue to attract travellers as a luxury destination was restated at a recent conference which drew general managers from more than 50 luxury resorts.
On the sidelines of the conference, hotel managers said that February and March were good months despite concerns raised over political unrest in the country’s capital.
Held at the Kurumba resort on April 18, the Hotelier Maldives GM Forum was also an opportunity for Conrad Hilton to showcase the world’s first undersea villa to be opened for bookings next November (2018).
Testing is underway while construction has been completed on the $15 million residence at the Maldives Conrad Rangali Island resort, also home to the world’s first undersea restaurant, Ithaa.
“We are revolutionising travel. This product will further put Maldives on the map as a luxury brand,” said Daniel Welk, Hilton’s Vice President, Operations for Asia Pacific.
He said the future of luxury is not only the price tag but many other things. “At Hilton we are moving to the golden age of luxury as (luxury) travellers are not only sophisticated; they want privacy, VIP levels of security, ease of entry and discretion,” he said.
More than a dozen upscale resorts are opening in the next two years including the likes of the 120- villa Pullman Maldives Maamutaa Resort by Accor; the Movenpick Resort & Spa Kuredhivaru; the Waldorf Astoria Maldives with 138 beach and overwater villas; the LUX North Male Atoll resort with 67 double-storey residences; and the Hard Rock Hotel Maldives and Hard Rock Cafe Maldives.
However M.U. Manikku, Chairman of Universal Resorts, one of the largest hotel chains in the Maldives and a tourism pioneer, said the market has broken into three segments – high end, middle range and guesthouses/budget travel and marketing of the destination required to touch all these points.
Contrary to worries that the 45-day state of emergency in February/ March in the Maldives had affected bookings, arrivals jumped by 18.5 per cent in March and 19 per cent in February. The surge was due to an increase in European travellers which offset the drop in Chinese travellers, the Maldives’ main source market.
Andrew Ashmore, Group Head at Coco Collections, said while they witnessed a drop of 8 per cent from China that was compensated by an increase of over 10 per cent from the UK, Germany, Japan and Korea, and the Middle East.
He said bookings in April and May were excellent and considerably better than last year. “June is down, which is normal ( off peak season), but still well above last year,” he said.
It was mostly guesthouses that reported cancelled bookings during February/March. Graeme D’Arcy, Hotels Area Manager at bookings.com, said that while 2/3rds of their supply in the Maldives comes from guest hosuses/home stays, the bulk of the revenue came from resorts and hotels.
But he pointed out one of the challenges to resorts are that guesthouses are now offering the similar facilities like wifi or spa’s and charge less.