Tour 2022 took us to 7 new resorts bringing the grand total to 109 resorts we have stayed at in 19 visits (see the updated map below).
Here are a few of our observations of our favourite destination:
- Rise of Families – I noted in 2020 how families seemed to be more and more prevalent. This trip confirmed it. In particular, the latest visitor stats which show the number of families visiting skyrocketing from 11% to 36% in one year! As a result, many properties that had “adult only” policies are dropping them or scaling them back as they just can’t afford to cut out this segment. You also see it in the room configurations. The vast majority of rooms are listed as 3 adult capacity (by the third adult they generally mean a child over 12 years old) with a convertible settee built into the room. Many others have a stock of portable beds to roll in and expand capacity to 3 adults and 1 child.
- Growth of stony corals – In recent years, seeing any new growth on reefs was an anomaly, but now every reef we snorkeled had a significant amount of especially big block corals like Diploria, Porites, Alcyonidae, Pocilloporidae, and Acroporidae (which research is showing fare better than other corals in the warmer water). The coral gardens seemed more like a spring garden than a winter one…sparse, but promising.
- $1000/nt luxury AI – Lots of very fine resorts are targeting the $1000/nt segment with a luxury (ie. dine-around, fine food, lots included such a two excursions and one spa treatment) AI offering (Cora Cora, Emerald, OBLU, OZEN, Amilla). Just right for the affluent market who are not billionaires.
- Atmosphere Group Investment – The Indian resort group Atmosphere is making a big play for the Maldives. They have half a dozen properties already with plans to open many more. Probably the most of a non-Maldivian hotel group (aside from Marriott group).
- Accessibility Nod – Most of you have seen the brilliant initiative that Jason and Victoria have done at Amilla for inclusion and accessibility. But I was impressed at how many accessibility features I was seeing across the resorts (especially ramps). My wife and I both work with disabled individuals so we have a bit on accessibility sensitivity.
- The Yanks Are Coming – The Indian Ocean on the other side of the world to North America so travel is exceptionally long. And flanked by the Caribbean on the east and the South Pacific on the west, the are plenty of tropical paradise options in the Americans’ backyard making them relatively rare in the Maldives. But the addition of more Marriott properties (eg. The Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, Sheraton, W Retreat, Meridian, Renaissance, Marriott) is luring lots of Americans who have Starwood points to burn and have been enchanted by the destination through social media exposure.
- Russians are the new Chinese – A while back it seemed like the Maldives had been overrun by Chinese as they dominated the numbers. The Chinese are still a strong market, but they seem comparable in size to may other visitor geographies now. In fact, one of the gratifying changes in the Maldives we have observed over two decades is how it has morphed from a uniformly European sunshine bolt-hole into an internationally and ethnically eclectic mix. That said, the clearly dominant set of guests are the Russians. There were lots of them everywhere we went. I thought that maybe the economic situation in Russia would have reduced them, but actually the travel sanctions and Maldives being one of the few countries welcoming them has meant that they are all going there.
- Digital Default – The default way of doing everything is digitally now. Download the resort app to check-in. Connect with the resort/butler via WhatsApp. Read the restaurant menus via QR codes on the table.
- Windier and Windier – I’ve commented in the past how July has gone from “breezy” to “windy” and this July was even more so with some days near gale force. Frankly, the “maldives sinking” is a colourful, PR-grabbing red-herring (ocean levels are rising quite slowly and terraforming and other measures can mitigate effectively). The real issue is weather intensity and extremity. Climate change may make the Maldives inhospitable before it makes them submerged. For the tourisms industry, the winds disrupt snorkeling accessibility and visibility, feet-in-sand al fresco dining, transfer reliability and speed, etc.
- Goodbye Tchotchke – The airport tchotski store in the departure lounge to have one last chance to grab cheap trinkets, a fixture throughout our two decades passing through there, has been replaced with a swish boutique.
