Ahmed Shareef

It’s being really a long time since my last post. I can see some posts have even got missing while moving from my old hosting provider. In my last post which is now missing, I was talking about the reasons I chose studies. The basic reason was the economic recession.

Now, I’m starting with my research proposal and I would like to base it to Maldives. I have some topics in mind and thought of sharing this with friends and other fellow bloggers. Anyone could give me a better idea or a comment on its effectiveness could lead me to a better idea.

Before I list down those topics, there are some factors that are taken into account in deciding a research topic.

- Importance to the country, people and the industry.

- Accessibility to the information / data, in order to conduct the research.

- If any other Maldivian conducted a search on that topic.

Now, here goes the research topics I’m thinking about.

- The next tourism trend in Maldives high-end market.

- How local population benefits from resorts in Maldives.

- Effectiveness of marketing Maldives tourism.

I’m open to all suggestions and ideas. You dont have to be an expert or even a person in tourism industry to drop an idea. I believe a good idea can pop up in anyone’s mind, no matter who you are or what you do.

Kulhudhuffushi Member of Parliament (MP) submits a bill to the parliament on enforcing the banks to give study loans of at least MRF15 million annually, collectively MRF90 million per year from 6 banks operating in Maldives. According to the draft, loans range from MRF57,000 to MRF500,000 and repayment starts 6 months after completion of studies, with a repayment period of 10 - 15 years. Interest rates can go upto 8%. The government guarantees 60% of the loan and remaining 40% by the student.

If you were a student the news would be delightful to hear, especially if you were financing your studies on your own. As for bank managers, this might cause them cry out laud, at least for a while. Even though money is not lent for free as per the drafted bill, it has never been practiced in Maldives and there are solid reasons.

The legislation system in Maldives has been extremely unstable for the past few years, due to so many reasons one cannot list out, and for all these years the banks were not prohibited of issuing the so called student loan which is practiced in many developed countries around the globe. So, why has no bank started this loan and earned the interest?

Banks do business with cash; they buy and sell or exchange cash in different forms and means. As per my knowledge, so far the government has not enforced any bank to follow any form of loan scheme in Maldives, allowing the banks to practice free trade. May be this is one of the reasons that several overseas banks had applied for operating license in Maldives; free trade of banking has encouraged remarkably over the years.

When it comes to an enforced student loan scheme to be practiced by all banks operating in Maldives, banking may not become unprofitable even with unstable legislation and high records of criminology. But, when a respective Member of Parliament submits such a bill which does not balance the mechanism of free trade, in my opinion, Maldives may lose confidence by potential investors. Even if other Members of Parliament reject the bill, still the issue of instability remains bold in potential investors who are already withholding the planned projects just for lack of confidence.

Baseless bills submitted to the floor, even if they didn’t get passed, and even if the candidate didn’t get showered with support, it might shake up investors and certainty of instability would become more certain with every unfolding story as such.

Providing student loans are as important as providing free and fair banking in the country, or less than that. So, having initiated this issue in the parliament, the MP may deserve some credit, only if it does not exceed its negative inplications. So, now I’m stuck halfway through. Therefore, getting back to the topic, it might be more effective for the MP himself and for fellow Maldivians if the bill was drafted on a recognition system in exchange for student loan scheme.

Do you think it’s a revolutionary new style to walk with your laptop? Would it be easier to carry this way? Would people notice if you walk this style? First, let me tell you what this picture is about.

Adamo is a high class ultra-thin laptop recently introduced by Dell. If you visit Adamo’s home page, you will be inspired by a series of these new styles. It has got the pride of being world’s thinnest laptop presently in the market. The glass screen and extra battery life on top of its finely done finishing makes it simply irresistible. You can read more specs from their website.

To me, the pictures are more attractive than it. Conceptual photography portrayed is superb, with a lot of similarity to high-end hotel photography techniques which I was going through a few years back. You may have already noticed some features.

Adamo is stylish, the woman walks in style, setting a feel of new presence. Adamo is thin, so is the woman in high heels. When she walks into a supermarket, would people stare at her? Just like the brand new Adamo in laptop market? When you saw the picture for the time, if you left it was not ordinary, would you go further and see what’s new?

Marriott standard for photography tends to avoid showing too much in a single photo as simplicity has greater impact.

The picture does not target much detail and hardly understand what she is carrying, and that’s how simple it is.

If you were at a tourism college you might have heard of tourism being multi-dimensional. But, have you ever heard of earthquake debris being converted to a tourism product?

Chinese province of Suchian was hit by a deadly earthquake measured 8.0 magnitude on 12th May 2008. Thousands of people were killed and many were buried both alive and dead underneath building collapses as per reports. The tragedy capsized lives of the province with no hope for generations to come.

Suchian Tourism Bureau had recently announced development of a museum park with all building collapses as tourist attractions. Some news papers reported that demand for this tourism product was huge as per Chinese officials and it was difficult to avoid the public demand. Hoping visitors would pay due respect to the lives passed away, Chinese officials were initially to open places like schools, bridges and factories.

Now, do you wonder if a country like Maldives can overturn the tsunami debris into dark tourism? As for Chinese, it is not difficult to assume that they targeted for domestic tourism. The country’s population is big enough for a market, and proportion of population who suffered such disasters is very small. So, there is a huge chunk in the target market who might be interested to visit the museum. Comparing the same to Maldives, there seems no leverage in size of local population and no strength in the segment.

Though, I am not an expert marketer, comparing the scenario for both Suchians and Maldivians, the picture comes in two different colours. Even if Suchian citizens benefit out of the disaster, it may not be only impossible for Maldivians to benefit out of tsunami, but also lead to negative effects on already established beach holiday market. If you were a holidaymaker in Maldives and you saw tsunami debris, would it makes you come back again or would it make you fly back home quickly? Or just none?

If you are tired of reading the dark tourism, allow me to cook another dish with same meat!

Though I am not a basketball fan, it is well-known that basket players are usually very tall. Assuming you are not that tall, if you take some pills and manage to reach the height you desire, could it have adverse effects, just like dark tourism not being suitable for Maldives? The comparision has now taken shape of a principle?

My friend and I went to Dolphin Cafe for a drink. That day was so hot and evening was warm too. So, I wanted to go for something cold. My friend ordered an energy drink and I chose a Granini blackcurrant. It didn’t take too long to relax me in the breeze of open-air terrace. By then, I had only few sip left in the glass.

The empty glass with some left out sips looked nicely wrapped in pale red around. So, I asked my friend if he could render some light with his mobile phone while I took the shot from top.

The outer circle seen on the picture is actually the rim and red inner core is the left out drinks where light comes though. Though the pixels don’t look so low quality, I had a Nokia phone with only 1.2MP for this shot.

My home was located not far from Thoiba Mosque. So, I always went there for prayers, though not all. This morning I had the first prayer on New Year and I saw something new afterwards. When I was leaving the mosque it was this pair of home-made slippers that caught my attention. At first I thought it was some kind of security the guy has put on and then I came to wonder how the man would walk as there was no straps in it. Even if he was carrying the straps in his pocket there must be a place to attach those to the slippers.

A closer look discovered the slippers were screwed down on the piece of wood, both the slippers on one piece. He must have been carrying not only the strips but a screw driver as well. He would not be able to unscrew those four in each without a screw driver. The screws didn’t look freshly driven into and some were a bit rusty as well. So, I thought it must have been something else.

Each slipper had a cross mark on, which some people do to identify the slipper and to warn others not to take it. But this was no ordinary slippers.

At last, I came to conclude that it was a sign telling not to keep the slippers on the stairs.

The Latin word vacto means milk and ovo means egg. Vacto-ovo vegetarians eat both and do not eat any meat at all. I’m on vacto-ovo diet for next 3 days. After a long time, I’m going to experience the tastes of various vegetarian dishes and feel the difference. Even if I don’t weigh anywhere close to a chunk of British beef, trying a diet is nothing odd I guess.

I started the programme this morning with an omelette, fresh milk, bread, cornflakes and jam for the breakfast. I had almost nothing to lose in my breakfast.

We have few vegetarians in our resort and we have been serving those guests the way they prefer as the type varies quite often. For example, pascatarians do eat fish and everything else is just like the normal vegetarians, while strict vegetarians never touch any meat. This time, I’m going to try what they have been adapted to, even if I can’t come to think like a real vegetarian with such a short-term diet.

After 3 days of vacto-ovo, I’m switching to pascatarian as I like fish and it’s good for health. Moreover, Maldivians are used to it as vegetarians do to vegetables. In Maldives we don’t have enough land for farming. That is the main reason that a Maldivian was never a vegetarian, and it’s not better at all to become one unless you gain something better than what you sacrifice.

Few days ago I went for walk along the mile-long white beach and found some empty bottles just landed. It must have come from the sea as our tourists don’t carry bottles to that area and I had seen some floating towards the island. At a distance the cleaner was collecting the stuff into his sack. When I met him he said in Dhivehi that he was getting more bottles. I was surprised to hear him speak Dhivehi as last time he spoke me in Bangladeshi and I had to get help from another worker.

He was a skinny old man in his 60s if not 70s and still does the job well. I was wondering how old he was and yet working away from his family to find a living. Usually Bangladeshis get a long vacation after every 3 years as their ticket is expensive and Srilankans get annually. This old man was a Bangladeshi. But he didn’t seem to be stressful, rather he was like doing the job in the day time taking rest at night, and the next morning would be another day to pass. He used to get superb food and accommodation in the labour quarters and then the salary regularly at the end of each month. He was pleased to work as if the resort-life was his living too.

Once I saw a local businessman discussing the issue on TV. He expressed many good factors of employing foreign workers. They work longer hours, travel any place at any time, have fewer off-days, food and accommodation are cheap, salary is not high to pay. I thought he was right in terms of business but he too had a social responsibility.

Many of these junior level expatriate workers don’t get job in their home country. Even the people with job don’t earn half the salary they earn here in the Maldives. In their country they don’t get the food they get at resorts while resort’s labour quarters stocked with metal bunk beds are better than their small shelters with leaking roof. They can travel any where as they are away from the family anyway. If they can feed their family and patch the leaking holes in the roof, they are better than when they were in the home country. As human wants are unlimited, it is not enough for them, but far better than ever before, where as the Maldivians are working on their own soil away from the society, earn the same salary as foreigners in most cases. Maldivians get the same off days and annul holiday. As for foreign workers they get their work-permit fee paid by the resort and up and down airline ticket when they go on holiday.

We hear the expatriate workers in the Maldives are still on the rise and authorities have been tackling it as they say. So far they have not come up with a proper solution and they don’t seem to understand the real consequences of expatriate workers getting in to the country. But, some how, the senior personnel at the employment ministry must have heard of foreign workers’ contribution to the economy. On one end is what we lose and on the other is what we get, the government authorities seem stuck in the middle with no proper mechanism to regulate the flow. Sometimes they seem trying to stop the foreign workers getting in, instead of maintaining its balance through a regulatory mechanism based on the socio-economic factors. This has led the people to believe ‘trial and error’ method doesn’t work and the authorities keep on kicking the ball blindly.

Every resort in Maldives has some sort of welcome proceeding for arrival guests. A team member goes to the jetty and expects guest’s arrival before the boat could alongside. In some resorts the Greeter goes to jetty before a guest onboard could notice the people on the island.

When the guests travel by boat many do enjoy the scenery of tropical island chains in different shapes and colours. A silhouette view of the island comes into sight from a distance of 10 miles. The guests could notice the size and some vegetation of the island compared with neighboring islands if any. Soon they see the glimmering white beach, and when the boat is close to 2 miles they see the structures of different shapes beautifully portrayed in real colours.

Guests see a well-groomed team of staff await standing upright watching the boat arrive. They feel the resort is well prepared for their arrival. The team members smile and greet each and every guest in finest words of hospitality as soon as they get off. They are then guided to lobby or welcome pavilion where servers expect them with cold funnel and welcome drinks. Passports are collected along with travel agent’s vouchers and team members fill the registration cards quickly and continue the check-in process.

This could be a normal arrival to a resort in Maldives. However, the luxury chains have specific phrases and standards to use during different interactions with the guests, including the arrival. In Marriott, the arrival treatment is called Arrival Ritual. The word itself has the fine touch of warm hospitality and spirit to serve. Marriott’s Renaissance brand have these steps in their Arrival Ritual:

WELCOME:
A. “Welcome to Renaissance”
B. guide the guest
C. Delighted to welcome

RECOGNISE:
D. Use the standard
E. Greet for the time of the day with a smile
F. “We are delighted to welcome you”… and guest name

PERSONALIZE:
G. They use the guest name as often as possible.
H. Find out the guest needs
I. Attentive, proactive and maintains the flow of conversation

These standards are quite common in Maldives as they are pretty basic, I would say.

The Arrival Ritual is just a single chapter of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which includes the complete set of standards for hotel operations. All high class resorts in Maldives have this in place and the entire operation is precisely guided. But, inspiring terms like ‘Arrival Ritual, Mr.Friday, Thakuru’ are still rare in the Maldives.

Tourists get lot of facilities and services from the resorts, only sky is the limit or the tourist’s budget, and tourism is multi-dimensional. Every high-end resort walks the extra mile and earns smiles. All resorts have; spa, water sports centre, diving centre, food and drinks. Only Huvafen Fushi has an underwater spa, and only Conrad Maldives has underwater restaurant, two distinctive features of luxury tourism. But, every resort with a luxury feature may not be a luxury resort, if they are too weak on other aspects. The tourist who wants to visit Maldives and enjoy an underwater-dinner has only one place to pick. When another resort owner comes to hosts an underwater restaurant, certainly he won’t get the success Conrad got from it. Conrad has been doing it for years and they are also popular for that, even without considering the brand image. Hence, a new resort operator who goes for luxury business and wants to achieve immense popularity needs to come up with an ingenious innovation, just like Huvafen Fushi when they were newly getting into the business. So, now the industry needs a new chapter of exclusive tourism.

Few months back I heard on TV that the government was leasing some islands for agricultural development. By the way, now some people might have got the island. There were some bids submitted with the intention of proving a tourism support service and when the government denied allowing it on those islands, the people lost their interest. That was when I became interested in agricultural islands. They can cultivate vegetables and fruits, and sell to the local market or to the resorts near by. May be that is why some people were interested. But that is not my plan and it’s no where close to my plan. My plan ends up on creating the so-called ‘image’.

“The newly opened luxury resort in the Maldives has its own island producing vegetables and tropical fruits, and is freshly transported to the resort every day. Guests see just-plucked fruits with its fresh leaves laid out on display where chef slices it right in front” Imagine the impression! Isn’t it exclusive?

The taste might not be so different than the ones we import quite freshly. But it’s the impression which creates the image, making it so exclusive. A special island is there for the purpose and many workers do the job, just to deliver it fresh. When this goes together with high-class service, guests will notice the resorts commitment on ‘attention to detail’. And no other resort in Maldives does it.

When guests get treatments in underwater spa they get nothing more than just a good impression. They keep watching the fish as they walk towards the treatment bed which most probably have seen while snorkeling or diving. Most people keep the  eyes closed or even lay face down during the treatment and feel the real comfort. But they feel so special to get a treatment in the world’s first underwater spa. It is the impression which creates difference. The image makes a tremendous impact.