KATHMANDU, APRIL 06

The COVID-19 pandemic brought global tourism and travel to a standstill. Although the health impact of the pandemic has been fairly contained in the Maldives, its economic consequences for the tourism-dependent economy have been devastating.

To contain the spread of the virus, the country closed its borders for the first time in history, between March 27 and July 15, 2020. This led to a sudden stop in tourism – the main driver of growth, jobs and revenues.

But with the virus now contained and more than two thirds of the country's population fully vaccinated, tourists have been steadily returning since late 2020. After an 18-year record low visitor number of just 555,494 in 2020, the country attracted 1.3 million visitors in 2021.

Maldives has also successfully attracted tourists from new and emerging markets to supplement shortfalls in arrivals from previously high-performing markets like China. India and Russia were the leading markets in 2021, accounting for 22.1 percent and 16.8 percent of total tourists, respectively.

There is no doubt that tourism, which propelled Maldives into the ranks of middle-income countries and enabled it to narrow the gap with more advanced economies, has been key to the country's development success.

But disruptions stemming from the pandemic and new shocks from the war in Ukraine highlight the risks associated with reliance on a single economic activity. Tourism and related services directly contribute to 40 percent of the economy, 80 percent of exports and half of total revenues.

The good news is that young, innovative Maldivians are helping build a more diverse and dynamic economy of the future.

When the Maldives imposed a lockdown in April 2020 to stop the spread of COVID-19, Siyah Khaleel and a group of his friends were stuck on a remote island. They were looking for ways to get back to Male, but they could not find any online.

That's when it hit them: the country's sea transport industry, which is made up of numerous individual players, needed a solution to centralise bookings for the different services.

OdiApp was born from that experience. With the app, travellers can book tickets from a transport service provider of their choice with just a click of a button.

As the country emerges from the unprecedented impacts of the pandemic and new shocks linked to global conflict, economic diversification is now more important than ever.

With the demand for highspeed internet and contactless services on the rise due to the pandemic, digital technologies have the potential to unlock new markets for Maldivians across the archipelago and enable the government to provide better services.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 7, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.