New Delhi: A day ahead of the complete withdrawal of the Indian military troop from Maldives -which was initially slated for May 10th- Maldives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer has planned an official visit to Delhi.
Two batches of the 88 member Indian military troop have returned and the last batch is expected soon. The troops were deployed in Maldives with one helicopter and two Dornier aircrafts for medical assistance and emergency services.
The fourth core group meeting between India and Maldives took place in Delhi on May 3rd.
Moosa Zameer, during his upcoming visit to India will meet the External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar. Interestingly, Zameer is also considering meeting India travel and tourism professionals while in Delhi. It may be recalled that after a Maldivian politician used derogatory words against Prime Minister Narendra Modi (when he was in Lakshadweep last year), Indian tour operators launched a ‘boycott Maldives’ campaign.
As a result, the outflow of Indian tourists to Maldives dropped. Indian celebrities who used to travel frequently to Maldives also stopped travelling to the island country which is expected to have affected the regions outreach.
Statistics reveal that Indian tourists to Maldives dropped to 42638 as on 30th April this year from 73195 from the corresponding period of the previous year.
Indians formed a substantial share of tourists to Maldives until 2023, however, the Diplomatic downturn in its relations with India is expected to continue to impact the tourist inflows.