Louis Vitton tourist resort in upmarket Maldives
View(s):Sri Lanka may be going the wrong way in still tapping the mass market in a region crowded with this type of tourism, and should take lessons from the Maldives which is attracting smaller villas, designer brands and high-end properties.
Opening in 2013 with 46 villas in Randheli island is designer brand Louis Vitton’s only second resort in the world.
“We are excited about it as it’s like the ‘God’ of all brands,” Maleeh Jamal, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture told the Business Times in an interview in Male, last week. “Maldives has (also) become the birthplace of tourism innovation,” Mr Jamal said. On September 7, the world’s first underwater music club, Subsix, opened at the NIYAMA, Per AQUUM’s newest resort in the Maldives. A company statement said above the Subsix is Edge, an overwater restaurant, located 500 metres offshore and appearing to float on the surface of the ocean. Another upcoming, innovative product is an 18-hole floating golf course being built by Dutch Docklands in an ambitious project.
The floating island includes homes, villas and a hotel and convention centre.
The government, after President Mohamed Nasheed stepped down last February in what he claims was a military coup, has shifted its stand on sea level rise and global warming and the danger to the Maldives. President Mohamed Waheed told reporters in Colombo recently that while the environment is a serious issue for any country the Maldives looks at solutions through mitigation measures. “Investors ask seriously – why should we invest and have a 50-year lease in the country that is going under water in 30 years,” said Mr Jamal, blaming the former President for unnecessarily voicing out loud about the Maldives sinking.
He said even though Male was vulnerable like any other island, a strong sea wall built with Japanese assistance protected it against the 2004 December tsunami. The adjoining, reclaimed island Hulhumale is on an elevated platform.
The Maldives, with more than 100 resorts, is the lowest country on planet earth, just 1.5 metres above sea level.
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