Iceland’s volcanic eruption leaves Maldives tourism industry “vulnerable”: MATI

Although experts are saying that Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano had been erupting since March, it was last Wednesday’s eruption that created a thick cloud of volcanic ash which has spread over Europe and Scandinavia, grounding flights all over the continent.

Flights between Europe and the Maldives have also been affected, with British Airways, Sri Lankan Airlines, Air Berlin and Italian carriers Meridiana Fly cancelling flights to the Maldives until today, pending further instruction from Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation.

‘Sim’ Mohamed Ibrahim from the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) said “the cancellation of flights shows the vulnerability of the tourism industry to outside forces.”