Tourism has finally reached the Southern Part of Maldives after a longtime. The first active resort to open in Addu is Herathera which is now subleased to a local company on a management contract. It appears that the island name will soon be changed to a different business name “Han’ dhu Fushi” – when translated in English means Moon Island. Changing the name may be a part of re branding strategies of the new management company, so I will leave it to them to take it forward.

Over the last 36 years the Maldives tourism has grown immensely with slight downfalls like any other tourist Destination. We have been very fortunate to have small islands scattered around, that are naturally created as one-island-one-resort (not sure if this is an official market definition) spreading from Male’ to up North islands. Now it looks like we should be trying to find another definition to explain or market our tourism as there will soon be resorts built adjacent to local islands, on top of local islands – and not necessarily on individual islands to support the naturally-deserved term “one-island-one-resort” concept.

I wonder if we really have started to look for new terms or definitions to market these new concepts and new areas. Without a doubt, tourism in Addu can easily be defined as a different style or marketed in a different way for various reasons. Why not we position Addu as a new destination within the Maldives, like Bali in Indonesia? Maybe we are or we will…

On an interview with TVM earlier this year, Dr Mausoom (then Director General of MTPB) said that they plan to “name” emerging tourism area in the south of Maldives as ‘Southern Zone’. Perhaps, from a destination point of view, this is the first step and, in time we will really know all about this “Southern Zone” and the Unique Selling Propositions of this new tourism area.

In search for more definitions I had a look at the official website of Herathera Island Resort ….and the main intro goes like this…
“a new resort….a new destination… a new adventure… a wonderful holiday addu atoll… just south of the equator… the southernmost atoll in the Maldives enjoy the longest beaches and coral reef in the Maldives”

Another website from a mass Tour Operator describes as follows;
“In Dhivehi, the Maldivian language, Herathera means a hideaway or sanctuary, and this is the perfect island to forget the hustle and bustle of the real world and relax. Situated just south of the equator and in a beautiful lagoon the resort boasts one of the best beaches in the Maldives…”.

Personal Experience, Word-of-Mouth (mainly from historical links) goes like this…
I get to meet a lot of people from different parts of the world, this is because of my job and where I live. Normally, I spend few hours talking, exchanging ideas with them. As the conversations goes, a very frequent question people ask me is where I am from: I would normally say “I am from the most southern islands of the Maldives” and they would make some faces, letting me know that they have not heard about that place. I would then try to elaborate and say “it used to be an RAF base during the second world war” and about 80% of the people I meet would say, “oh yes I know about that”…

Maybe it is time we start branding the islands differently. Why not highlight the historical links, cultural and social links among many others to sell the destination. I think if the “Southern Zone” is marketed with these factors in mind we will be able to hit a totally different segment than the normal sun-seeking holiday goers.

Isn’t it time to start thinking “out-of-the-envelope” and position ourselves differently to cater for the diverse markets within the tourism business?