Maldives row is leading to hurried travel plan changes

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Adverse comments against India’s prime minister by three ministers of Maldives appear to have set off a chain reaction of holiday cancellations to the island nation. An executive committee member of Outbound Tour Operators Association of India said some travel companies have calculated that between 6 and 7 January, the industry might have seen up to 8,000 cancellations for hotel bookings in the Maldives by small groups from India.

Arshdeep Anand, who is also CEO of HMA Spectrum Handcrafted Holidays, a Delhi-based outbound travel agency, added that her own company has experienced this blowback. A small group of 10 couples, which was spending about ₹30 lakh on a short getaway to Maldives, has cancelled the trip and opted for an alternative destination.

“This downward trend for Maldives could spiral further," said Anand, adding that it could also boost tourism to Lakshadweep. While there is no number available for flight cancellations, an analysis by Mint shows that the average prices of flight tickets for January between Delhi or Mumbai and Male—barring a few days—have crashed.

Compared to the usual, average return ticket fare of ₹24,000, flights on IndiGo are now available for as low as ₹18,500. Vistara is offering fares at about ₹31,000 for a return ticket from the same cities.

Meanwhile, a statement by the Indian Chamber of Commerce exhorted its members and other tourism trade associations to ‘boycott Maldives’, and instead promote places like Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, and even other southeast Asian countries. The developments are symptomatic of how Indians have reacted to derogatory remarks made by Maldivian ministers against PM Narendra Modi, after his visit to the Lakshadweep islands on