The two island countries in the Indian Ocean– the Maldives and Sri Lanka—have witnessed contrasting patterns in hotel performance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maldives: steady recovery
On 15 July, Maldives opened its doors to international tourists after roughly three months of total closure. The seclusion of the island, coupled with the proactive measures taken by the tourism ministry to promote inbound travel, seems to have led to a steady, albeit slow rise in hotel occupancy.
Since July, the number of tourist arrivals seems to be increasing at a steady pace month on month, and the creation of additional travel bubbles with countries should only continue to boost these figures. With almost 90% of the resorts approved to reopen, hotel performance is on an upward trend.
The Maldives daily occupancy sat as low as 2% on 15 July but climbed to as high as 26.1% on 26 October.
