Maldives is one of the world's most geographically dispersed sovereign states as well as the smallest Asian country by land area and population, with around 515,696 inhabitants. Malé is the capital and the most populated city, traditionally called the "King's Island" for its central location.
The Maldives archipelago is located on the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge, a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean; this also forms a terrestrial ecoregion, together with the Chagos Archipelago and Lakshadweep.[12] With an average ground-level elevation of 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) above sea level,[13] it is the world's lowest-lying country, with even its highest natural point being one of the lowest in the world, at 5.1 metres (17 ft).
The Maldives remained largely unknown to tourists until the early 1970s. Only 189 islands are home to its 447,137 inhabitants.[107] The other islands are used entirely for economic purposes, of which tourism and agriculture are the most dominant. Tourism accounts for 28% of the GDP and more than 60% of the Maldives' foreign exchange receipts. Over 90% of government tax revenue comes from import duties and tourism-related taxes.
The development of tourism fostered the overall growth of the country's economy. It created direct and indirect employment and income generation opportunities in other related industries. The first tourist resorts were opened in 1972 with Bandos Island Resort and Kurumba Village (the current name is Kurumba Maldives),[108] which transformed the Maldives economy.
The resort island of Landaa Giraavaru (Baa atoll)
According to the Ministry of Tourism, the emergence of tourism in 1972 transformed the economy, moving rapidly from dependence on fisheries to tourism. In just three and a half decades, the industry became the main source of income. Tourism was also the country's biggest foreign currency earner and the single largest contributor to the GDP. As of 2008, 89 resorts in the Maldives offered over 17,000 beds and hosted over 600,000 tourists annually.[109] In 2019 over 1.7 million visitors came to the islands.[110]
The number of resorts increased from 2 to 92 between 1972 and 2007. As of 2007, over 8,380,000 tourists had visited Maldives.[111]
The country currently[when?] has six heritage Maldivian coral mosques, all of which are listed as UNESCO tentative sites.
The Maldives has a tropical monsoon climate (Am) under the Köppen climate classification, which is affected by the large landmass of South Asia to the north. Because the Maldives has the lowest elevation of any country in the world, the temperature is constantly hot and often humid. The presence of this landmass causes differential heating of land and water. These factors set off a rush of moisture-rich air from the Indian Ocean over South Asia, resulting in the southwest monsoon. Two seasons dominate Maldives' weather: the dry season associated with the winter northeastern monsoon and the rainy season associated with the southwest monsoon which brings strong winds and storms.
The shift from the dry northeast monsoon to the moist southwest monsoon occurs during April and May. During this period, the southwest winds contribute to the formation of the southwest monsoon, which reaches Maldives in the beginning of June and lasts until the end of November. However, the weather patterns of Maldives do not always conform to the monsoon patterns of South Asia. The annual rainfall averages 254 centimetres (100 in) in the north and 381 centimetres (150 in) in the south.[70]
The monsoonal influence is greater in the north of the Maldives than in the south, more influenced by the equatorial currents. The average high temperature is 31.5 degree Celsius and the average low temperature is 26.4 degree Celsius.
Visitors to the Maldives do not need to apply for a visa pre-arrival, regardless of their country of origin, provided they have a valid passport, proof of onward travel, and the money to be self-sufficient while in the country.[113]
Most visitors arrive at Velana International Airport, on Hulhulé Island, adjacent to the capital Malé. The airport is served by flights to and from India, Sri Lanka, Doha, Dubai, Singapore, Istanbul, and major airports in South-East Asia, as well as charters from Europe. Gan Airport, on the southern atoll of Addu, also serves an international flight to Milan several times a week. British Airways offers direct flights to the Maldives around 2–3 times per week.
There are numerous resorts in the Maldives, which vary from extravagantly luxurious to fairly simple. Accommodation in the Maldives almost invariably consists of thatch-roofed coral cabanas with en suite facilities. Most of the resorts have air-conditioned rooms with mini-bar, although some of the resorts still have fan-cooled rooms. Many resort groups have recently installed desalination plants to provide clean tap water.The resorts are fully integral communities with sport and leisure facilities including scuba-diving and snorkelling, restaurants and bars and, in some cases, a shop and/or disco. There is a shop on every resort island. Different islands tend to attract different nationalities. Resorts specifically geared towards divers are very common in the Maldives, as it's one of the country's biggest attractions. The best diving resorts are a long way from other resorts, meaning that it's rare to encounter dive groups from other islands. Dive resorts always cater to non-divers too, and each one has a good beach as well as other activities such as water sports or a spa.
Contrary to popular belief, there is a cheap end to the Maldives' accommodation market, though it's still relatively pricey compared to those in most Asian countries. Budget resorts in the Maldives tend to be favoured by divers and families, and many are much larger in size than the average, although there are plenty of laid back, quiet resorts in this category too.
Velana International Airport is the principal gateway to the Maldives; it is near Capital city Malé and is surrounded by water. International travel is available on Government owned Island Aviation Services (branded as Maldivian) operates to nearly all Maldives domestic airports with several Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft and one A320 with international service to India, Bangladesh, China and Thailand.
In Maldives there are three main ways to travel between islands: by domestic flight, by seaplane or by boat.[125] For several years there were two seaplane companies operating: TMA (Trans Maldivian Airways) and Maldivian Air Taxi, but these merged in 2013 under the name TMA. The seaplane fleet is entirely made up of DHC-6 Twin Otters. There is also another airline, Flyme, which operates using four ATR planes to domestic airports, principally Maamigili, Dharavandhoo and some others. Manta Air begins its first scheduled seaplane service. Its seaplane fleet is made up of six DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft. In addition to the seaplane service, Manta Air utilizes three ATR 72-600 aircraft to operate domestic flights to Dhaalu Airport, Dharavandhoo Airport and Kooddoo Airport from the main Velana International Airport.[126] Depending on the distance of the destination island from the airport, resorts organise speedboat transfers or seaplane flights directly to the resort island jetty for their guests. Several daily flights operate from Velana International Airport to the 12 domestic and international airports in the country. Scheduled ferries also operate from Malé to many of the atolls. The traditional Maldivian boat is called dhoni. Speedboats and seaplanes tend to be more expensive, while travel by dhoni, although slower, is relatively cheaper and convenient.
Since the 12th century AD there were also influences from Arabia in the language and culture of the Maldives because of the conversion to Islam and its location as a crossroads in the central Indian Ocean. This was due to the long trading history between the far east and the middle east.
Reflective of this is the fact that the Maldives has had the highest national divorce rate in the world for many decades. This, it is hypothesised, is due to a combination of liberal Islamic rules about divorce and the relatively loose marital bonds that have been identified as common in non- and semi-sedentary peoples without a history of fully developed agrarian property and kinship relations.
