Maldives Honeymoon

Why Maldives Honeymoon works

The Maldives is made up of 1,192 coral islands arranged in a double chain of 26 atolls running 871 kilometres from north to south and 130 kilometres east to west, of which only 298 square kilometres is dry land against roughly 90,000 square kilometres of surrounding sea — one of the most spatially dispersed countries anywhere. The atolls sit atop live coral reefs and sand bars on a submarine ridge some 960 kilometres long that rises sharply from the Indian Ocean floor, with only two navigable passages near the southern end allowing ships to cross from one side to the other. Gan, part of Laamu Atoll, is the largest single island in the country, while in Addu Atoll a 14-kilometre Link Road connects the westernmost islands to one another across the reef, and the country's average natural ground level of only 1.5 metres above sea level makes it the lowest-lying nation in the world.

Tourism took hold in the Maldives from the early 1970s, and the number of resorts grew from just two in 1972 to 92 by 2007, by which point cumulative visitor arrivals to the country had passed 8.38 million; by 2008 there were 89 resorts offering over 17,000 beds and hosting more than 600,000 tourists a year, a figure that climbed past 1.7 million annual visitors by 2019. The very first properties, Bandos Island Resort and Kurumba Village, opened in 1972 and set the template still followed today: a private island, reached by boat or seaplane, built entirely around its surrounding reef and lagoon. Tourism now accounts for around 28 percent of the country's GDP and more than 60 percent of its foreign exchange receipts, having overtaken fishing as the dominant force in the Maldivian economy within a few decades.

The Maldives' marine habitats vary noticeably from one atoll to the next, shaped by a north–south gradient as well as differences between neighbouring atolls, particularly among the sea life found on their reefs. Fourteen species of mangrove, spanning ten genera, grow in the brackish and muddy pockets of the islands, including the fern Acrostichum aureum, while land-dwelling reptiles remain scarce given how little dry land the country has to offer. Coral reef habitats face pressure from land reclamation for artificial islands, where reef rubble fill has at times altered currents and affected coral growth nearby — a reminder of how closely daily life here, and the resort industry built on it, is bound to the health of the surrounding reef.

Visitors to the Maldives do not need to apply for a visa before arrival, regardless of nationality, provided they hold a passport valid for at least one month, a confirmed return itinerary, a prepaid booking at a registered facility, proof of sufficient funds for the stay, and a completed Traveller Declaration form submitted within 96 hours of the flight. Most arrivals land at Velana International Airport on Hulhulé Island, immediately next to the capital Malé, which is connected to India, Sri Lanka, Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur, along with charter routes from Europe and a direct British Airways service from Heathrow, while Gan Airport in the far south adds a weekly link to Milan.

Before tourism reshaped the economy, the Maldives depended for centuries on fishing and on trading cowrie shells, which were gathered here in such quantity that Arab traders knew the islands as the "Money Isles" from around the second century CE; those same cowries later circulated as currency across parts of Africa, and the cowry remains the symbol of the Maldives Monetary Authority today. Fishing is still governed today from a base laid in 1974, when the traditional dhoni fishing boat was first mechanised, a change that helped the fisheries sector grow alongside — rather than in competition with — the newer resort economy that now employs so much of the country.

• Maldives — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Text adapted from the linked articles under CC BY-SA 4.0; edited for length.

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