Lakshadweep
Male: Boycott of Maldives by Indian tourists is likely to have a huge impact on tourism there, which is the biggest source of income for that country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Lakshadweep and the subsequent derogatory comments made by three Maldivian ministers had prompted a strong reaction from India. Big celebrities had appealed to boycott Maldives tourism and move towards Lakshadweep.
Number of tourists will increase in Lakshadweep and Andaman
Indian tourists visiting Maldives believe that this attitude of tourists will definitely increase the number of tourists to Indian peninsulas like Lakshadweep and Andaman. Indian tourists present in Maldives, while talking to news agency ANI, expressed their confidence towards the Indian peninsulas and kept a positive outlook and said that now Lakshadweep and Andaman are attracting tourists more than before.
Promoting the country’s tourism is positive
After Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep, large-scale campaigns were run on social media for the promotion of Lakshadweep. Along with this, the hashtag of Boycott Maldives also started trending. Kunal Somaiya, an Indian tourist who came to visit Maldives, says that the Prime Minister is promoting Indian tourism for the country. This is a positive thing for India. People should explore tourism in India only. It is not that Lakshadweep was not there earlier. People also knew about it. But Prime Minister Modi went there and promoted it in a very positive manner. Kunal Somaiya, who came to visit Male from Mumbai, had booked Maldives even before this controversy.
Maldives’ tourism industry depends on India
Avoiding any kind of political debate on the rift in relations between Maldives and India, Kunal did say that the current tension may increase the problems of Maldives. Kunal said that I am seeing in Maldives that if we talk about tourism, it is completely dependent on India. I don’t have any exact figures but among the foreign tourists here, the majority are Indian tourists. Some impact of the current tension is being seen. I have also heard that flights are also being cancelled.
Meanwhile, tourist DK Aggarwal, who came from Dehradun, expressed surprise at the current tension. He said that this will also affect those who have already made plans to visit Maldives. Aggarwal said that when we are not saying anything about your (Maldives) country then why are you (Maldives officials and ministers) saying derogatory things towards the Prime Minister of India? They should not do it like this.
The effect will be visible within a year
DK Aggarwal said that when Indian tourists start visiting Lakshadweep or other islands, Maldives will start seeing its impact within a year. After the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Lakshadweep, awareness about Lakshadweep increased among people all over the world and people have searched Lakshadweep on Google on a large scale.
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