Mr. Abdulla Ghiyas was appointed as a Board of Director of Visit Maldives Corporation on 11th July 2024.
He is the Chair of the PATA Maldives Chapter, the PATA Face of the Future 2018, and the current President of the Maldives Association of Travel Agents & Tour Operators (MATATO). Over the past several years, he has led MATATO, having been involved with the NGO for nearly 18 years in roles ranging from Board Member to Treasurer to Vice President.
In his current role, he has supported the independent non-profit organization with a variety of activities, including advocacy, training, recognition, familiarization trips, international trade shows, destination marketing, government lobbying, and whistleblowing.
With 20 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry, Abdulla Ghiyas became the youngest Board Director of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) from 2014 to 2018. In 2010, Junior Chamber International (JCI) Maldives recognized him as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons in the Maldives. In 2018, he was named PATA Face of the Future. Additionally, he serves as the Deputy at the Consulate of the Republic of Seychelles to the Maldives.
A serial entrepreneur, Ghiyas leads travel businesses and startups in the Maldives. In 2019, he was named one of TTG Asia’s 45 Trendsetters in Asia / Agents of Change. He has been featured in various interviews and global leading news outlets, including CNN and BBC.
In an short interview The Chairman of Maldives Tourism Board, shared his thoughts with on various topics under;
We just finished the MOU signing a little while ago. We renewed our MOU with Emirates. Emirates is a tremendous partner for Maldives. In fact, they are the largest feeder of passengers into Maldives, so I cannot describe their importance enough. Our commitment with Emirates is not just on a commercial basis, but very much on bilateral sentiments as well.
Given the disruption this year, our objective is obviously to bring things back to normality rather than trying something new. Especially in a market like this, when you look at the GCC or Middle East, it brings in about 4% of our total arrivals. But if you look at the number of flights they bring in, it's close to 45% during our low season, and around 35% during our peak period. So we have one of the highest dependencies on the Middle East hubs, and the airline is a huge partner for us.
Renewing a partnership with them is not just about strengthening our existing ties. I'm not trying to say we did something that's going to elevate us. But Emirates used to bring in five flights daily to Maldives, and our short-term objective is to get there again.
If you look at all the Western European countries, and even Russia and the Eastern European countries, I don't think I have to go into the details of the strength Emirates brings with its network. It is one of the legacy airlines globally today.
So the connectivity they bring us, like I said earlier, is not just from the Middle East. The Middle East is a very small part of it. The key business they bring us is from markets like Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, wherever they are flying in Europe, Eastern Europe, and even Russia, and even all the way from America. They have flights that connect east to west across America. I know it's a long flight, but there are travelers who use Emirates and fly all the way from North America, even South America, even Africa, to Maldives.
We opened a beautiful new airport last year. You will experience something very, very unique to Maldives. Obviously, it took us a lot of time to make this beautiful airport, but I would say it is one of the most beautiful airports in the world right now.
I believe it transcends into the Maldivian hospitality, the trademark Maldivian hospitality that we Maldivians are very proud to serve.
I think one thing we are very excited about is next year. It's going to be Visit Maldives year 2027. This is our third year that we are celebrating. It's a celebration of 55 years of tourism in Maldives. As you understand, we started our journey in the 70s, and we've come a long way to be branded as a world-class destination today. So hopefully, we invite everybody to be part of the celebration next year.
