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The state of emergency in the Maldives has led scores of Chinese tourists to cancel trips in the past two weeks, confirming fears the ongoing political crisis could seriously hurt the island nation’s crucial tourism industry, in the midst of the high season and the Chinese New Year holiday.
The tropical country, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, has become a beloved holiday destination for Chinese travelers, with between 300,000 and 400,000 visiting every year – the biggest influx of tourists from any nation.
But a state of emergency, declared on February 5, has prompted travel warnings from China and a string of countries and led to an increase in cancellations, according to tour operators.
Travel warning
Reuters quoted one operator saying cancellations were up about 20-25 percent from normal. The Paradise Island Resort near Male said it had seen 50 to 60 cancellations per day ever since the crisis started.
August 17, 2007: A wooden entrance leads to the Coco Palm resort on Boduhithi Island in the Maldives.
Chinese operators and airlines have also been helping travelers reschedule or cancel bookings.
This comes at the height of the tourist season and as tens of millions of Chinese have been boarding planes and trains for the Chinese New Year, which this year falls on Friday.
Most people head home to spend Spring Festival with their families but increasingly, well-off Chinese are spending the Lunar New Year in faraway destinations.
On Wednesday, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Geng Shuang again noted that "authorities of China are guiding the Chinese citizens to pay close attention to travel safety risks and properly arrange their schedules," when asked about the situation in the Maldives.
State of emergency
Beijing issued a travel warning earlier this month "asking Chinese nationals to cancel travel plans" after President Abdulla Yameen declared a 15-day state of emergency in the country and ordered the arrests of Supreme Court judges, as well as opposition figures and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who is also Yameen’s half-brother.
Security forces stand outside Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) office as they barricade it in the capital of the Maldives, Male, February 7, 2018.
The Court had earlier overturned terrorism charges against nine opposition figures – including former president Mohamed Nasheed, now living in exile – and ordered their release.
Following the arrests of two of its judges, the remaining Court quashed its previous ruling.
Meanwhile, security forces have been deployed in the capital Male to put down unrest and popular protests, although islands and resorts seem not to have been affected.
At least one media outlet also stopped broadcasting, saying the current climate was not "conducive to unbiased and independent journalism".
Trouble in paradise
The political crisis – coming ahead of a presidential election due to be held this year, although no date has yet been set – has cast a cloud over a tropical destination best known for its white sandy beaches, palm trees and clear turquoise waters.
In 2016, tourism made up 41 percent of the Maldives’ gross domestic product, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, and almost 1.4 million tourists visited the islands, according to government statistics.
Shortly after the state of emergency was declared, Male sent envoys to several partner countries to reassure them the country was safe for tourists. In Beijing, the Maldives’ Minister of Economic Development Mohamed Saeed vowed that the country would be "doing its utmost to protect the safety of the Chinese people and institutions in Maldives."
China v. India
Beyond the impact on tourism, calls by opposition leaders in the Maldives for India to intervene militarily have prompted fears the crisis might escalate.
New Delhi sent troops in 1988 after an attempted coup. This time around however, it is more likely to try and find a diplomatic solution, observers say.
Meanwhile, India and China have been wrestling for influence in the island nation.
India, on the one hand, has historic ties with Male.
Recently however, the Maldives has been moving closer to China, joining the Beijing-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese companies have also been entrusted with major projects in the country, such as the expansion of the Male International Airport.
For now, the Chinese foreign ministry’s position has been that "what is happening inside the Maldives belongs to the internal affairs of the country."
"China will not interfere in the internal affairs of the Maldives," it has said.
The UN has meanwhile called on Male to end the state of emergency and release the judges. Yameen’s actions have been "an all-out assault on democracy," the UN’s human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said.
(CGTN)
