Maldives row: Travel demand takes a hit as Indians cancel trips to island nation

Let the seashells of Maldives find you. (Image courtesy COMO Maalifushi)

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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Maldives, a travel hot spot for Indians, is facing backlash after a minister of the island nation made derogatory comments against Prime Minister Modi which has led to many Indian travellers cancelling their trip to the overseas destination.

Online travel aggregator (OTA) EaseMyTrip has halted flight bookings to the island nation. "In solidarity with our nation,@EaseMyTrip has suspended all Maldives flight bookings," CEO & Co-founder, EaseMyTrip, said on X.

Prashant Pitti, Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip said that every year 3 lakh people visit Maldives from India. "We are focusing on promoting tourism in domestic destinations like Lakshadweep and have also launched five new packages to promote Lakshadweep."

He said that they urge airlines to work on direct connectivity to Lakshadweep from Delhi, Mumbai, and other cities to promote tourism there. "We are also promoting Ayodhya and hope Lakshwadeep and Ayodhya become international tourist spots," he said.

Many Indians who already had made bookings to Maldives took to social media to announce cancellation of their travel plans to Maldives and posted pictures of cancelled flights and hotel reservations. Rushik Rawal who had a 3-week booking worth Rs 5 lakh from February 2024 at Palms Retreat, Fulhadhoo, Maldives, posted on microblogging site X saying that he cancelled the bookings immediately after the Maldives minister posted racist comments. Another X user Dr Falak Joshipura posted that she had plans to to go to Maldives for her birthday in February and had almost finalised the deal with a travel agent but immediately cancelled it after seeing this tweet from the deputy minister of Maldives.

The controversy stems from a tweet by Maldives minister Abdulla Mahzoom Majid who said India faces challenges in competing with the island nation in beach tourism.

Also read: Bollywood celebrities rally support for domestic tourism amid Lakshadweep-Maldives row

An Indian traveller Akshit Singh who had made bookings to Maldives for travel between March 31 to April 2 posted a screenshot on X, showing that he has cancelled the trip. Singh also said that he is "atmanirbhar" with domestic destinations like Lakshwadeep.

The offensive remark by the Maldives minister led to #BoycottMaldives becoming one of the top trends on X.

The tension between the two nations will hurt the economy of Maldives, said many leaders of the island nation. Indians boycotting the Maldives will have a huge impact on our economy. It would be hard for us to recover from such a campaign. I call on the government to swiftly take serious action to solve the issue ASAP," said former sports minister of Maldives Ahmed Mahloof.

Indian tourists were the highest among visitors to the Maldives till December 2023, according to data from the country's tourism ministry.
Out of the total 17.57 lakh tourists who travelled to the island nation, India had the highest share in terms of a number of visitors at 2 lakh followed by countries like Russia and China.

Also read: Maldives minister's tweet over PM Modi's recent Lakshadweep visit sparks row

The Maldives government on January 7 suspended three of its ministers due to their derogatory remarks against PM Modi. Deputy Ministers Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Mahzoom Majid of Youth Empowerment, Information and Arts have been suspended.