INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

P PATHMANABAN A/L C M PAPPAYAH

SPORTS TOURISM
HAND OUT DATE:
WEITAGE:

Student Name:
Student ID:
Module Name:
Intake Code:

05 JUNE 2015
50%
Abdulla Muiz Fuad
TP016578
Sports Tourism
UC2F1410TRM

Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................................................3
Over view of the country............................................................................................................... 3
In-depth in to Destination.............................................................................................................. 3

Development Projects............................................................................................................4

Participation of local community............................................................................................5

Effects on Environment..........................................................................................................6

Visitor Flow.............................................................................................................................8

Different Recreation for Different Tourists..............................................................................9

Unique Attractions................................................................................................................10

Benefits for the Local Community........................................................................................10

Conclusion...........................................................................................................................11

Reference.............................................................................................................................12

Introduction
Over view of the country
The Maldives is an Independent Republic country located in the Indian Ocean. The
Maldives is unique to its 26 coral atolls, which contains a total of 1200 coral islands and numerous
sand banks. The Maldives is known as a Muslim country, however, little in common with other
muslim countries (Boniface and Cooper, 2009), with a population of 341,256 (Geohive.com, 2015).
The governments through out all terms has done fair share of work to encourage western tourism in
the country, however, inhabited islands have strict rules and follows the islamic culture. No alcohol
is allowed in the Islands, except for the resorts islands and liveaboards with special permits. Tourists
are expected to respect the Islamic traditions such as modest dressing when visiting the Islands and
Capital city Mal.

In-depth in to Destination
Mal city offers little attractions to the visitors. Mal is a densely populated city where
almost one third of the countrys population lives. However, a newly developed city, named
Hulhumal, which is adjacent to the International Airport, is the new focus point for the tourists.
Hulhumal is five times the size of capital city Mal and with a planed infrastructure and the
developments are focused to give comfortable living spaces for locals. The beach areas are given
for local businesses to develop a tourist friendly environment where many local businesses own
transit inns and boutique hotels and excursions such as water sports and island hopping. Hulhumal
is accessible from the airport by land transport with a ten minutes drive.
Hulhumal is one of the few locations in Maldives where backpackers can stay and go
island hoping and get involved in budget tourism, which is almost nonexistent in Maldives, and the
available ones are rarely promoted. There are other coral islands that offers tourism around the
world, in spite of that, what makes Maldives archipelago unique is the islands are fairly small in
size (example, the capital city is total area of 5.8km) and the Resorts islands are much smaller in
size, famous for one island one resort concept, where most tourists get the best experience of
holiday in a private island with few guests and staffs with complete privacy. The Maldives mostly
attracts honeymooners and couples.

Development Projects
Maldives as a destination signifies coastal tourism with white powder sandy beaches and
great coral reefs and its biodiversity. Maldives is well known for its prestige and high quality
services, which comes with a premium price tag. With this generalised idea of the destination
doesn't give potential tourists much idea in terms of options to choose a type of holiday preferred.
The target is to change the scope of view towards this natural given resources by investing
in to different methods of utilising the surrounding to increase tourist attraction and arrival, not only
limited to honeymooners and couples.
Following are the proposed ideas with ideal location throughout Maldives.
International standard Surf-point and recreation club (Picnic islands x 5)
Independent Floating remote dive stations with live aboard (at Biosphere UNESCO).
Commercial water sports and Dive centre for Hulhumal
Lagoon based inflatable-water theme park (family resorts x 20)
Skydive establishments with paramotoring. (Domestic airport island close to capital city)
The mentioned attractions and facilities would require specific location due to its unique
nature, such as surf points. Since Maldives has few good locations for a surf point, the Surf-clubs
can only be placed in these few available locations. The advantage of having these attractions in key
locations includes attracting tourists with common interest to choose Maldives as a destination. The
strategic placement of attractions in different locations through out Maldives would produce more
opportunity for local community involvement.

Participation of local community

Most of the tourism text suggests that the participation of the local community does not
necessarily bring a successful outcome. When taking host communities in to consideration it is
important to note that the host community is heterogeneous and no communities are homogeneous
(Mason, 2008). Supporting this argument, Murphy says that it is relatively easy for a community to
unite in opposition of a tourism development (Murphy1985). However, Pretty claimed participation
mean different things to different people (Mason, 2008). Pretty developed a Typology that
categorises different communities with different characteristics which helps to understand different
community types, as communities are heterogenous (Mason, 2008).
Taking prettys typology as a guide, Maldivian communities are best described as Selfmobilising. Tourism in Maldives began in 1972 by a small group of people who got involved in
being host for 22 guests, in a country where there were no guest houses, neither any restaurants
other than local establishments. They accomplished so much in Maldives over the 40 years and
today they are known as the pioneers of Tourism with leading enterprises of their own (Neville,
2012).
With this idea it is not hard to understand how the Maldivian communities would react to
these new implementations. Each of the proposed five sports facilities would create opportunities
for local people, not only the people in the capital city. And also communities away from the capital

Figure 1.0
city would benefit from the jobs created by these development projects. At a community level the
construction process would not require much work force from overseas as Maldives has numerous
companies that deals with different types of construction and developments. These developments
would encourage small island communities to collaborate together. When it comes to Maldivian
community, majority believes in the common idea of long-run tourism benefits, as a result Tourism
is the leading revenue source in Maldives.
As the communities are spread from north to south of the country, most of the time projects
are carried out in the densely populated areas, neglecting the small communities. The abovementioned projects are targeted for the skilled expertise from all over Maldives. And as these
facilities are placed in key locations through out the country there will be a fair balance in required
work force. This will result in employment opportunities and increase the possibility for the
regional developments.

Effects on Environment
The Maldives survives on natural tourism, besides the luxury accommodations, and
underwater restaurants and night clubs everything else is natural resources, nothing is man made.
Regarding the proposed developments and its impact on the environment, it is agreeable that no
developments mentioned are going to disrupt any wildlife or sea habitats. However, some of the
construction works are done directly planting base pillars to the reef bellow to give stability to the
platforms above the sea. Maldives development companies have come a long way from the early
years of tourism developments.
The construction process is assessed and checked by the local governing body EPA
(Environment Protection Agency). This agency is responsible for creating new environmental
policies and enforcement of those policies to protect biodiversity of sea life and protecting the coral
reefs around islands. The development process of the facilities would be conducted in the most eco
friendly manner. The natural resource, which surrounds the Maldives, is what attracts the tourists.
The environmental impacts will occur when these facilities come into operation. Visitor
carrying capacity is one of the major causes. High demand for the use of uninhabited islands,
causing more human footprint on the islands, disturbing the natural habitats such as Turtle nesting
and bird migrations. Even though, the carrying capacities were maintained, the issue will not be
fully avoidable.

Resorts and picnic islands are daily maintained, keeping the beaches free from floating
rubbish. Most of the garbage is the day-to-day used water bottles and plastic bags that are thrown in
to the sea while traveling on boats. While some inhabited islands with poor garbage disposal
systems often have garbage sites placed at one end of the island, which is connected to the shore.
The tide pulls most of the rubbish in to the sea and via currents it is carried out to different islands.
However, the governing agencies are more aware of these situations and are bringing changes to the
old systems in the islands.
The common idea is that with these facilities built, the managements would implement
better solutions to minimize the threat caused to environment from these facilities and tourists who
uses the facilities.
Maldives has good control system over the most of the damages that are cause to the
environment locally, by enforcing the environmental policies. Resort islands take special initiative
in voluntary interest in keeping their natural surroundings damage free. The tourists are constantly
educated with the proper use of the equipment and gear when taking part in recreational activities,
such as Diving.
Balance sheet of environmental impacts of tourism
Environment impacts has both negative and positive sides to it, as adapted from (Hunter
and Green 1995) the balance sheet of environmental impacts of tourism (Figure 2.0), is fairly
applicable to Maldives tourism system and to the proposed developments. On the positive side these
facilities would most encourage the protection and cleaning the coral reefs, the attractions mostly
being all natural recourses.

Figure 2.0

Visitor Flow
Maldives is one of the marketed destinations among the tourist destination in the world.
Maldives has had a constant growth rate since 1972 till 2004. In 2005 there was a major drop in
tourist arrivals due to the Tsunami in 2004. However, visitor flow picked up in 2006, and has been
growing since.
Maldives welcomed its first One Millionth Visitor in 2012; as of 2014 Maldives had
reached 1.2 Million, a very promising visitor flow growth rate for Maldives.

Figure 3.0 (Source: visitmaldives.com)

Figure 4.0 (Source: tourism.gov.mv)

With the facts available from the past visitor arrivals, it is safe to forecast with or a higher
number of visitors with proper marketing. As these developments will open Maldives to various
niche markets such as surfers, skydivers and travellers hoping to enjoy just more than white sandy
beaches and sounds of waves breaking to the shore. The marketing process of these new
developments should be done for the right markets in-order to attract more visitors. European
markets are more rest and relax type of tourists while Middle Eastern tourists come to enjoy what
ever the destination has to offer. These developments will give those tourists something to look
forward to when they reach the destination.

Different Recreation for Different Tourists

The development plans proposed are truly different from any other previous projects done
in Maldives. This is to expand the scope of visitors, to help the travel agencies to attract tourists
from different background and help the tourism industry to grow. Dubai can be set as the
benchmark for the countries at the development stage of tourism. Dubai has built its attractions
within 10 years from a barren desert; now tourism is its third largest revenue source. While Dubai
breaks new boundaries when it comes to implementing new developments and latest technologies to
attract different types of markets. Meanwhile, Maldives has been relying on its natural resources
since the beginning, and has only show few technological advances such as underwater restaurants
and nightclubs. Even these developments even its just few has attracted twice as more visitors to
Maldives. The proposed sports facilities would be the first of its kind, as they are purpose build
facilities to attract more tourist target markets.
Surfing, Diving, are not new to Maldives however the Skydive facility would be brand new
type of attraction for Maldives and specifically it would attract the extreme sports tourists, who
enjoys the adrenaline rush. The Floating theme parks would be a great new addition, as Maldives
offers beautiful lagoons and swimming pools however, with very less activity. And not many
activates can be enjoyed as a group such as jet skiing or canoeing. A floating theme park changes
the idea of enjoy the lagoon and it is an addition which is cost effective and environment friendly,
requires less efforts to maintain. The family type vacationists that visit Maldives are mostly from
Asia and Middle East, these are the best markets that would take interest in these attractions. When
considering the family lifecycle, destinations are decided with the interests of the children.

Unique Attractions
Each and every attraction proposed are so far unique to the Maldives tourism industry. The
most unique attraction that would attract most tourists would be the Floating Dive Station this
facility would be able to facilitate guests for overnight stays and would provide world standard dive
equipment and Certified Dive Masters. Up until today the dives are coordinated and tourist are
taken to the location for a few hours away from their resident resort island, this is costly and
expensive for the tourists and uses a lot of staff on the management side. However, the idea of a
Floating Live Aboard opens opportunities for tourists to have over night stays and take multiples
dives with less effort in travel and expense.
The Skydive facility would be a new addition as it would be the first time skydive being
practiced in Maldives. Skydiving itself is the experience that tourist look for, (the rush of jumping
out of a flying plan), however, the location plays a good role as well. The breathtaking view of
small islands and turquoise lagoons would be most attractive when free falling from the sky
approximately 15,000ft above.

Benefits for the Local Community

The benefits of developing new facilities would open doors of opportunity for the locals,
relatively for the local businesses and SMEs. Most development projects would be done locally,
since the projects are located through out the country. Companies would get the opportunity to be
part of the projects. As these different projects would create number of job opportunities for the
local craftsmen. Once the Facilities are established, new local ventures would start off. The
opportunities for the local businesses such as gourmet restaurants, souvenir shops and excursions
were not possible before the development of tourism.
Most resort companies has outsourced their Dive facilities, however, the proposed dive
centres would provide local divers the opportunity to practice under standard facilities with
excellent quality equipment. New job positions with different job routes, would motivate future
generation of students to take higher education in specialised areas of tourisms. The government of
the Maldives encourages local students to take more interest in tourism related course, to minimize
the foreign expertise working in Maldivian resorts and tourist facilities.
The proposed projects to be developed in Hulhumal, would give opportunities for the
families living in Mal city to visit and enjoy vacations. As Mal is densely populated, Hulhumal
is the best location for such attraction. Not all resorts allow local visitors and most of the resorts are
above the budget of Maldivians. All developments and projects mentioned takes great interest in
developing the level of tourism in Maldives, allowing more exposure to the world. As the locals
takes pride in being recognised as a Maldivian.
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Conclusion
Maldives being one of the major hubs for tourist transits mostly from Europe and Middle
East. Venturing into developing attraction such as the dive centre and skydive facility would attract
quite a lot of attention to the country. Maldives has more verities of attractions, however, private
resorts develop the attractions, and not all tourists can visit the attraction unless they have a
minimum one-night stay at the resort. The developments would not belong as an asset to one resort,
and these facilities are meant to be accessible for all tourists visiting the country regardless of the
resort or hotel they stay. The developments would runs as independent facilities creating own
management, targeting more locals for the jobs created by the facilities. The sports and recreation
facilities promises more benefits to the community and encourages the locals to venture more in to
tourism. Creates more awareness on environment protection policies and initiates direct impact on
future generations.

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Reference
Books
Boniface,B.andCooper,C.(2009).Worldwidedestinationscasebook.Amsterdam:
Elsevier/ButterworthHeinemann.
Mason,P.(2008).Tourismimpacts,planningandmanagement.Amsterdam:
Elsevier/ButterworthHeinemann.
Websites
Geohive.com,(2014).GeoHiveMaldivespopulationstatistics.[online]Availableat:
http://www.geohive.com/cntry/maldives.aspx[Accessed25May2015].
Neville,A.(2015).ThehistoryoftourismintheMaldivesTelegraph.[online]
Telegraph.co.uk.Availableat:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/travel/3049/thehistory
oftourisminthemaldives.html[Accessed25May2015].
MinistryofTourism,(2015).HomeMinistryofTourism.[online]Availableat:
http://www.tourism.gov.mv[Accessed17May2015].
Visitmaldives.com,(2015).Welcome|Maldivesthesunnysideoflife.[online]Available
at:http://www.visitmaldives.com[Accessed16May2015].

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