Tourism budget for 2013 increased by MVR 60 million
11 Feb 2013, 5:15 PM
Luke Powell
The tourism budget for 2013 has been increased from MVR 20 million (US$1.2 million) to MVR 80 million (US$5.1 million), local media has reported.
The budget increase follows criticism from the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), which last month called for the government to reconsider the MVR 20 million budget allocated for tourism marketing in 2013.
The initial sum of money allocated was the lowest in eight years, according to a statement from MATI, which highlighted concerns that the Maldives’ economy was mostly reliant on tourism.
Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb told local media that the ministry had initially requested a budget of MVR 200 million (US$12.9 million) to carry out tourism promotion for the year, however parliament had “erased a zero” from the figure when finalising the budget.
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