Think about this! Sri Lankan investors (either directly or indirectly) control about 11 (eleven) percent of our tourist beds. Sri Lankan airlines has for decades controlled the major earning of the air-travel business in our tourism industry. Most of the accountants in many major Maldivian companies are Sri Lankans. They know the inside-out of our corporate strengths and weaknesses.
Sri Lankans are not only investing in resorts, but also in small travel agencies, restaurants and coffee shops as well. Most of these agencies are run in some Maldivians’ names and the Sri Lankans remain behind the curtain!
Where r all the talented Maldivian workers and investors? Our investors find it difficult to get investment capital due to a shortage of investment banks here in the Maldives. We also have a problem in motivating a relatively lethargic workforce. We also need to motivate the small to medium level investors to invest in restaurants, cafeterias, marts, etc.
Those Maldivians who want to invest in resort-operations and travel agencies also face major problems. For example, many resorts run by Sri Lankan and other foreign companies refuse to give rates for Maldivian travel agencies. Some people describe Maldives as an economic slave of Sri lanka. If we are blind to this we will soon wake up to a day when Sri Lankan investors control most of our tourist beds and hence control our travel agencies and the related industries in the tourism sector. By that time we would have ;lost control of most of our small businesses such as restaurants, coffee shops, marts, etc. as well.
President-elect Mohamed Nasheed's close allies and political-friends such as Sikka, Kerafa Naseem, Mausoom, GoGo Latheef, etc. are lovers of Sri Lanka and they may be inclined to maintain the status-quo. Nasheed should be brave enough to address this issue without being influenced by these allies.
We hope that our newly elected president Hon. Mr. Nasheed will be able to digest this message and address this pressing issue and also the many underlying issues here. The government should find ways to facilitate finance to local travel agents, tour operators and investors in all areas of business. A good example of the lethargic attitude that needs to be replaced by vigour is the fact that MATATO (Maldivian Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators) is also an unknown and an unheard of thing for many Maldivians.
Appointing Sawad as the Tourism Minister would only increase the influence of few resorts operators such as Jabir, Gasim, Nashid, etc. who will have less incentive to spread the wealth than to increase their coffers.
This isn’t my own idea but I hear many Maldivians complaining that the Sri Lankans are slowly but steadily taking control of our tourism industry through their investment wings such as Aitkin Spense and John Keels. They build close relations with influential figures in the Tourism Ministry and the government and increase the number of resorts and hotels that they run, either directly or indirectly.
The problem in many such Sri Lankan-controlled resorts isn’t the fact that they aren’t Maldivian but it is the fact that those Maldivians who work in such resorts say that they feel like second-class citizens in such resorts. Most of the senior jobs in such resorts are given to Sri Lankans and they treat Maldivian Staff in the Sri Lankan managed resorts unfairly.
With the dawn of a new government and the possibility of “real change” in the air, it is time that we reevaluate our tourism industry and see if we need to revise certain regulations as to foreign investment and foreign ownership of resorts.
We should be careful that Sri Lankans may copy our “unique” tourism concepts, learn the construction and operations of such resorts, and then implement those concepts in other countries. Our unique tourism product needs to be preserved so that we are able to carry it on for many more years without losing control of it.
Investment banks need to be setup in the Maldives so that local investors don’t lose out to foreign investors such as Aitkin Spence when it comes to developing and managing resorts.
We don’t want the smooth-talking Sri Lankan investors to charm us and "pickpocket" our tourism industry with help from few, corrupt, Maldivian officials.
So we call upon the new government to look into this matter seriously before it’s too late!
President-elect Mohamed Nasheed's close allies and political-friends such as Sikka, Kerafa Naseem, Mausoom, GoGo Latheef, etc. are lovers of Sri Lanka and they may be inclined to maintain the status-quo. Nasheed should be brave enough to address this issue without being influenced by these allies.
We are an open market economy, we are the ones who are renting our resorts to them, we are investing in Lanka too it is unfortunate that they have a problem with Tamil tigers. As for second class citizens!! Maldivian are treated like crap in locally run companies too because most are unreliable & don’t deliver results. We are only good in sipping lavazza on company expense...
ReplyDeleteLankans are brilliant they run our companies & take care of our entertainment.. Prostitution & liquor
i dont think new government will have balls to tackle these sort of problems. ever since mr. nasheed is elected he is praising golhaabo each and every second. i dont think such a man could bring any radical changes to this nation. he is a man who cant hold to his words.
ReplyDeletewat abt the fact dat most of the restaurants r owned by srilankans - chinese garden, dine and dine, dinemore, pizzeria (i hear its a new name now) ..etc etc
ReplyDeletewhere r all the talented maldivians out there?
Spot on anonymous 16:22 - can't agree with you more.
ReplyDeleteMr. Bush, the underlying problem behind why the Sri Lankans or for that matter any other foreigner is taking control of our industries are because Maldivians do not like any low class (mind you, not low income) jobs. This new generation have bred a few thousand of some very lazy, egotistical mold of young Maldivian who only think that it is only cool to have a job that entails wearing classy shirts/pants with ties, wear the most expensive shades and carry with them a model of phone from which they don't even utilize more than 5% of its intended use. Much less understand what it can do. In addition to all this they spend more than half the intended work hours at a coffee house.
Now with this mindset how do you expect Maldivians to have any good enterprise setup in this country, especially one that utilizes local support.
The only enterprising individuals here in the country are the crooks you have mentioned who work day and night to sell every little asset we have in this country to a foreigner to make a quick buck.
Now I don't really know who to blame for this mess.
All the talented maldivian are high on drugs, running their little gangs, wielding swords and box cutters at each other.
ReplyDeleteLet the Sri Lankans come and invest. Anyway its the local resorts who pay their staffs less.
Bush are you a Communist or a Socialist.
ReplyDeleteWhy not build a 30m high sea wall around Maldives to keep out foreign investors and foreign laborers and skilled workers.
Bushry is making an excellent point here on economy. this is serious security issue as well.
ReplyDeleteBut, paradoxically, an avarage free market economists would instantly disagree. For them free market is God.
But with deeper understanding of liberalisation, even an idiot should be able to unduerstand that you dont open up your economy unless the guy does so. if you do more, you dies first.
its like u open your door for your neighbour to come and have all meals but your neigboour would never invite you. So he end up comming to your house at all the odd hours and even taking your wife.
Sri Lankans have done the same thing. They have closed Sri lanka fro maldives business men. by law it is most open but in practice, sri Lankans have made their country purposely dangerous for foreigners. may be they are scared of India.
Look at the following gains they are making.
1. they control over 10 percent of all tourist beds.
2. They take major share of maldives tourist dollar as air fare. (This is ours with a good airline).
3. all coountants are sri lanakan. they know big local busineeses even more than the owner himself.
We already economic slaves of Sri lankans. True, big economy will always dominate the small but in that case the big one has to be better.
There are some so-'cold' economists among us who think Maldives economy have done better in South Asia due to our openness.
ReplyDeleteAlso they say that Sri Lanka has lost more due to being closed and business unfriendly.
But none of the arguments serve our purpose.
First, we are no bothered why Sri lanka could have done bettwer. its not our fault that they have an ethnic problem. Its their own issue. So why should we give all our buiness opportunities for them to exploit and profit from as a favour.
Think about it.
to the ISLAND KID with the silo mentality.
ReplyDeleteyou should be classified as mad for blaming Maldivians for having high exectations, professional jobs and high living standards. isnt that what everyone should want?
And whats wrong with that.
Some one would want something because he/she feels that he/she is worthy and deserving for it.
What you are saying is dhivehin deserves low income jobs. No.. we deserve what we expect. And you expect some thing only when you know that you are capable enough to deserve it.
it is the system that should adjust to the collective will of the individuals. Individuals do have to bend over back wards to please the few who control the system.
Looks like we are still light years awaysfrom the promised land of 'Aneh Dhivehiraajje'
Leasing out uninhabited islands should be stopped for the time being.
ReplyDeletePriority should be given to subsidiary industries to Tourism like, travel agency, fruit and veg growers, airlines. The reason is lack of development of these industries are the main reason the dollars are drained out of our economy.
I guess the next stage of Tourism development should concentrate on City hotels in our local islands.
Any way Anni is not just the 5 years or his term in office... we must develop the industry sustainably.
And keeping out the foreign investors is just because you have some issue over a sri Lankan or their economic policies, it will be the most foolish thing to do.
Regulate the Maldivian economy and markets, its the only way foreign investments could be beneficial to the Maldivian economy.
In order to have a full control on our bsinesses and key jobs we need sufficient man power with the the education and knowledge. Today the Sri Lankans and Indians are holding key position, because we dont have dedicated people among us. I own a service business and I decided to run it without expatriates. But after 5 years, in order to run my business I was forced to employe expatriates. This is is the status of country and wat we have to focus is to develope capable people who can take over those positions. IBU
ReplyDeleteIf you guys pay close attention you will find that not so long ago European tour operators enjoy bulk of our tourism earnings, now Maldivian’s are developing their own brands and competing with Soneva, Banyantree and so on. I am all for equal opportunity but let’s face it!! Smart people will always be few steps ahead from the rest.
ReplyDeleteCity hotels will not work, can you imagine tourist forced to wear veils by runnamaari fearing locals. @X
Bushry. you must write an entire post about the potential tourism minister Ahmed Sawad. Do you think its a good idea to give the tourism portfolio to the Jumhooree coalition when Jumhoore party is full of resort owners. Gasim, Jabir, Nashid, each of them have resorts. Sawad is just a puppet of the industry. When Dr Shaugee was the tourism minister he made shady underhand deals and invited Aitken Spence to Maldives. I also support a liberal economy and do not want harsh restrictions to foreign investment. But what i don't want is corruption in the tourism industry through which only a few people get rich. Now the tourism tycoons are placing Sawad to do the same thing that Dr Shaugee was doing. If you are concerned about underhand deals made with foreign investors you should declare that you are against Ahmed Sawad as the next tourism minister. Its also fact that Ahmed Sawad worked for his family company Alyson, and was their legal adviser and was in company management when they were involved in many corrupt deals in the industry. May God save our country from corruption.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that Mr.Bushry has brought up this topic. I do hope that our newly elected president Hon.Mr.Nasheed will be able to get this message and address the issue.
ReplyDeleteSri Lankans are not only investing in resorts, but also in small travel agencies and coffee shops as well. Most of these agencies are run in some Maldivian's name and they remain behind the curtain.
If the new government can assist these hard working Maldivian professionals, I am sure it will be of great benefit to the country.
The government should find ways to facilitate finance to local travel agents and tour operators who are now struggling to survive on their own.
We must not forget that the association formed by Maldivian travel agents and tour operators is now almost a thing of the past after it elected Mr.Jabir of Yacht Tours as its Chairman or the BIG BOSS.
Mr.Bushry, can you find out what happend to the MATATO(Maldivian Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators)?
I do pray that with the new government's help, we the Maldivians will be able to live in our beautiful land with honor.
I agree with Island Kid.
ReplyDeleteThe true underlying issue is that most Maldivians who sit for their O'Levels do not pass. The estimated level of fail rate in O'Levels in Maldives is 8/10. So with 80% of the student population failing their basic schooling, Maldivian businessmen do not have much to pick out from for the "White Collar" jobs. Unfortunately, as Island Kid pointed out, most Maldivians have a mentality of only joining work at "White Collar" level.
So my suggestion, rather than closing our doors to foreign investors, is to strengthen the foreign investment policy; and work on developing the youth of this nation through different levels of training - including re sitting for O'Levels or through vocational training. And through developing other tertiary as well as primary and secondary sectors of the economy, without concentrating and developing a dependent economy based on tourism.
Cheers.
cool down guys. this is our country and we all are capable of making the lost time and take control of the tourism industry. dont underestimate the Maldivians. we spent all day in coffee shops cos we were led by hopless undeserving bunch of guys in the top positions in the govt. We have a true leader now. let us all unite behind our new and inspiring president Mr. Nasheed.
ReplyDeleteGet ready to take our contry and personal self to a whole new level of gretness.
K
zayd and island kid makes the most sense here!
ReplyDeleteLethargic people spend their time in coffee shops with the expense of their parents, relatives, girlfriends, boyfriends or perhaps may be from the hard-earned money of their wife or husband. It is believe to be cool and the society has failed to show them otherwise. We need to work in every level to stop the trend and to build our society.
Maldives will disappear in another 100 years time, a better solution will be to integrate the island state with a country that has land to settle the (gonna be) environmental refugees. A prospective country could be Australia or India.
ReplyDelete"We have a true leader now" - hehehe :)
ReplyDeleteLOL! Sorry, I just could not help smiling. Just how did you come to that conclusion?
ps: look, I voted for Anni too. I have yet to see anything practical come out from him or his coalition. I'll wait just a bit before proclaiming he's "a true leader"
'Leasure maldives' a travel agent run and own by John Keela
ReplyDelete' Leasure Maldives " own and opeated by john keels in the name of Mr samoon
ReplyDeleteI tell you my observations about our fellow Maldivians.When I go to buy something in a shop,the Maldivian shop owner sits in the counter and does not even seem to know the prices of the items.It is the expatriate labourer who knows the prices,when to replenish the stock..etc..Even more funny thing is that the person in the counter has to use a calculator to even do simple arithmetic like subtracting 20 from 100
ReplyDeleteeven i am laughing and similing these days after all the crying in the past 5 to 10 years.
ReplyDeletei am inpired by this young guy for what he has already done and what he is capable of doing for this nation.
for me he is already a true leader.
K
i think saugee's resignation has something to do with audit report. before few days of audit report he resigned. is there any way we can check his and his wife's bank accounts. at least a 1 year statement. is there any guy in HSBC and BML over here.
ReplyDeletewhere is airmaldives(malaysian helicopters) issue? i have heard anbaree is doing business with some Indian partners.
where is FBID? dhoniya flight hijacked with two black briefcase. full of $. who is that? illabe. later he was forgiven by the dick-tator. but money never returned.
"islam yajubb maa qablahu" when you embrace Islam your past will be neglected or forgiven. is new government will give the robbers of the nation's wealth, new Muslim state. if we don't account them in this life, they will be accounted here after.
the funniest thing is that, they tried to prove that stealing from government or national wealth can not be accounted as robbery, since you are a citizen and there is a share for you on the wealth, and there is nothing called some one steal his own money. fuck you Maumoon Abdul Gay-yoom.
http://www.majlissexstories.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteOk, so wat are our options. If we chase out these Srilankans wat wil we b left with.Local drug addicts hu cant even entertain themselves.Lets not forget the qualified handful we have.Wat about them?"Moslty" corrupt to the born.
ReplyDeleteMale' local market now we see mostly foreigners, fishing boats the same trend, agriculture its the same story, Tourism nd aviation Lankans.Labourers mostly from Bangladesh.
Something has really gone wrong in the past few decades. Something????
Small srilankan business companies are brought by few corrupt Maldivians, like The customs boys Mr An.. at customs now runnung the textile shop called the Genesis and the Basic shop at Maaveyo magu and the Restaurant's operated by Gayooms member at the Parliment Mr Ha.... what the hell is this....
ReplyDeletemachan! what can you do? we have all the foreign embassies for Maldives here on our land. we are far superior than Maldives, we feed you, you guys live on foreign donations. so shut up! once we bring harmony to our nation will show you guys how far your tourism goes. you guys have nothing to show. no wild life, no mountains, no rivers, no historic monuments what else. believe me once our domestic conflict goes off, will make sure no tourist goes to Maldives unless they sit 4 to 6 days in Lanka.
ReplyDeleteHey "machan"! We don't deny that you guys have a country with plenty of wild life and many more resources than the Maldives. We agree completely. We also don't deny that if you stop fighting with the Tamils you can have a more prosperous Sri Lanka.So why are you coming here and acting as parasites. Even if you invest here we don't mind. But why do you have to break our foreign investment law by secretly investing in retail business that you you are not alllowed to invest in? Why are yoy getting into our politics and bribing our corrupt officials. Yes you have a rich country. Why don't you stop screwing the Tamils so that they will stopo screwing you (The Singhalese) and so you can take more tourists there. We don't mind even if those tourists stay there for one month before they come here! It's up to the tourists and you can't force them. Stop screwing yourself!
ReplyDeletemachan:22:40, your corrupt officials and shaky legal system is not our business. so you better cleanup your own shit before pointing to others. i am sure Indian's won't be happy you guys making friendly tie ups with china. is your elected nasheed and zaki are kids taking personal wrath on foreign policy, since Indians neglected their(MDP) visit to India, so they should not be invited, will invited china instead. will see how far it go. you guys eat when Indian's feed you.
ReplyDeleteSri Lankans are very clever people but in a negative way. They are good at corrpting naive maldivains.
ReplyDeletePresident elect nasheed should be very careful of SL as his closest alllies are SL loving-white shirts on sunday cricketers.
Even the idea of SL president comming to the innagration is dubious.
There is a elite club mentality that the people u have mentioned and Sri lankans share,
ReplyDeleteThe love cricket. Drink Whisky. Rich and talks politics.
They even wear white shirts and trousers when there is good cricket match on TV.
Bushry.. Forgot to include Zaki in the Sri Lankan club.
ReplyDeleteKerefaa, Sikka, GG, Husny,,, they woud not mind selling the maldives.
rivers, mountains, historic monuments , wildlife.. i wonder why europeans or whoever would want to fly thousands of miles to sri lanka to enjoy them things when there are much better places to go that offer the same experience and more! Sri lanka is a poor mans trivandrum.. lolz. ok i might be stretchin it too far.. but seriously there is nothin special about sri lanka that would lure the numbers that maldives do. maldives offer something unique..that is why its such a popular tourist destination. war or no war sri lanka will fail at tourism. lassana siri lanka - my arse!
ReplyDeletesafe
well. stop talking about zaki. we know zakis girl friend used to be lady chandhrika.
ReplyDeletehey, you are making us to write more article about Aitkenspence, we will make sure this time under the new goverment that Aitkenspence will not get any more resorts etc, because they have interefered into our internal politiccs, who is firaq most corupt man on this earth
ReplyDeleteHey,brothers. we need to clean up the tourism ministry before we point fingers to our neighbours. surely they will take advantage when few of our corrupt guys go to them with their offers.dont just single out sri lankans. how about the rest of the guys who taught these tricks to our locals long ago.more than that its not their problem.we have to fix this and make it almost impossible to cut such under table deals.
ReplyDeletetime has come to reverse all what has happend and take back the control of tourism industry slowly.
play your part.be united behind the new govt.be the one to drive this change.
K
Every one follows and imitate government employees,
ReplyDelete09:00 to office
09:30 breakfast,
10:00 drop kid to school,
10:30 come to office & chat,
11:00 take wife to hospital
11:30 airport 2c off a relative,
12:00 have coffee with friends
12:30 mosque
13:00 pickup kid from school
13:30 if they have any free time GO TO THEIR OFFICE DO SOME WORK. @X
30 years of perfect democracy frm the "father of democracy" leaves us with this.
ReplyDeleteCan we undo 30-years-of-damege? "Yes we can"!
ReplyDeletehey Machchaa, i m a srilankan but we have war or not Tourist will come to Maldives.what Maldives has srilanka does not have tourist is not going to hide in between a Tiger in the Jungle they need a Beautiful sea and a beautiiful Beach which you and i cannot produce dhoa Machhaa... thats how life design by God also for a very good reason we have War in srilanka, let the war be there for years. who care's
ReplyDeleteDr. Shaugee is the culprit of the mess in the tourism Industry. To facilitate matters in the tourism industry, the cheap Hippo asked Atiken Spence (Adaaran) for the Tourist Shop at Hudhuranfushi and to add on the begger took a loan from Atiken Spence to stock the Shop. The guys at Atiken Spence would be laughing head over heels moking the stupid pig and this guy thinks himself a smart ass. Anyway who gave Fake Dr. Shaugee the Ministry. Oh yes. Qayoom taking desperate meassures on desperate times.
ReplyDeleteNow Sawad. On looking at his family and business backgrounds, guys dont be surprised to hear that he asked Atiken Spence or most probably John Keels for 10 footer dingy for night fishing in exchange for a new island resort.
We really need to bring in the pest controllers in to the government. Specially Anni should ensure that his establishment is sprayed before seting up the structure.
Regret the loooooooooooong post. Scroll down if its boring.
ReplyDeleteYours, dear Bushry is an interesting post. Many would argue a free market is essential for the well being of a minuscule economy as we have in the Maldives. If we let demand and supply decide the modalities of development in this country, in a short space of time development based on efficiency and optimum use of limited resources would ensure that we build gradually a successful vibrant economy.
Having said that, we must recognize a cardinal role for the government of the day. The name of the game is human resources management. The bottom line is that we must train our youth to acquire skills and the work discipline that would ultimately make them productive. How do we do it? We have the examples of the developing countries and the developed countries to take lessons from. What is essential is that our scholars need to take these examples around us, and adapt these experiences of the East and West to suit our own Dhivehi Islamic heritage and Dhivehi Islamic norms. Vocational training centers and polytechnic's comes to mind as a core that could be developed in a tactical sense.
As for your ideas put here dear Bush, you must realize that the Sri Lankans are here because there was a vacuum that they filled. However if there is any suggestion that they obtained their so to say market share using illegal means such as bribing high officials then its obvious that this of necessity would have left a trail, that can be investigated. If there is hard evidence, to prove such instances of bribery and corruption and if laws have been broken, then the courts would and should offer the people of Maldives a remedy.
Given that a majority of Maldives voted for change, the new Govt. would indeed be sending a very powerful message by investigating corruption allegedly used in the tourism industry, and firmly standing against corruption – BOTH WHAT HAD TAKEN PLACE EARLIER IF ANY, AND IN THE FUTURE. Maldives being so small and Male being what it is, the high officials responsible in these affairs can be easily investigated with telling effect. It remains to be seen if this would happen and if the New Govt, would pursue accountability to the letter. Lets wait and see.
Among the possible remedies to the allegedly under use or allegedly abuse of the Maldivian work force in the tourism sector and all other sectors, the Govt. as a very first step could appoint a fact finding commission manned by truly independent { :-) ] experts in the field who commands the respect of the Govt, the people and the industries. I have my ideas, but what they propose as the facts and remedy would be a great start.
This notion that the Maldivian youth are lazy without skills as some sort of sub standard human being is a very offensive line of thought. In my opinion such ideas are put forward by intellectually lazy people who are satisfied with just “what appears to be”. In my own experience the Maldivians are extremely talented with a very high creativity index and a superb knack to be satisfied with nothing less than the very best and excellence. The example of Dhiragu comes to mind as a successful operation training and using the human resources of the Maldives.
In conclusion dear Bushy, its high time that we did a thorough in depth assessment of what this industry has brought to the ordinary Maldivian man and woman. What is the opportunity cost of developing this industry as we have done these 30 years. Interesting times are ahead of us. Maldives needs her sons and daughters as never before. The old guard is handing over the baton to the new guard. History would judge this changeover. My greatest solace is the faith I have in Allah, Peace to u o Bushy !
The problem with us Maldivians is thernt any honest leadership to take this country forward.Its always been for the interest of few people around the power seat.For example the impatient waiting of the elected govt. to replace those famoues 8 seats in parliament with their appointeess,the coming of Sri Lanka president for swearing, all this smells of misleading an innocent public to take charge to make way for friends and family.Not in any way different than Qayyoom
ReplyDeleteTsk! Who cares, we are living in a free world, globalization is the new way! But will someone give em lankans deodorants and shaving kits( for the female variety) free of chaaarge pleeeeeeeex! Lets lobby and setup a new ministry for this purpose. One of Anni's close lankan/maldivian friends can take charge of the Ministry of Deodorants and Shaving Kits for Lankans!!
ReplyDeleteDear Maldivians, there is nothing you can do about us Sri Lankans. Our airline is by default your national airline and more and more Sri Lankans are going to control your tourist indusrtry. In the past you guys survived by selling your "Maldives fish" to Sri Lanka. Why do you think that is going to change? For the person who is caling Sri Lankans "parasites" - what about all you Maldivians clogging up Colombo, going to Sri Lankan schools, hospitals and universities? For crying out aloud your little country doesn't even have a university of its own. The point here is you scavenge off other countries. Your new President says he wants to buy land in Sri Lanka because your Maldives is going to be under water soon. So it seems like the Maldivians want a slice of the "poor man's Trivandrum" lol
ReplyDelete