The number of tourists asking about Lakshadweep has gone up since India’s diplomatic row with Maldives erupted last week. But Lakshadweep has a long way to go before it can rival Maldives, travel agencies in Bengaluru say.
The controversy broke out when three ministers from Maldives called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “clown” and “puppet of Israel” after photos and videos of his Lakshadweep visit gained traction on social media.
One minister viewed India’s purported attempt to compete with Maldives “delusional”. The Maldivian government has since suspended these ministers, saying they don’t represent the official position. Angry Indian citizens launched a counter-offensive online, floating hashtags like #boycottmaldives and #exploreindianislands.
Per the Bengaluru chapter of Skål, a body of tourism professionals, Indians accounted for 11-12% of arrivals in Maldives in 2023. It is a sizeable number, says its president Ayappa Somaiah.
‘Insulted India’
An international holiday company with an office in Chamarajpet has suspended bookings to Maldives indefinitely. “They insulted India,” a representative says. “We had two bookings this month. We took the decision to cancel them and refunded the money to clients.”
They are eyeing Lakshadweep as a substitute. Up until the tussle, the company was booking two or three trips to Lakshadweep in a year. It has received 10 enquiries in the past three days.
At Nesara Tours, five clients have cancelled plans to visit Maldives and five others are looking at alternative destinations like Bali and the Andamans.
“Those who cancelled the trips aren’t incurring a big loss — their hotels had free cancellation and they were willing to pay a cancellation fee to the airlines,” says Karthik Marathe, partner at the Nagarabhavi company. The fallout will not hurt travel agencies in India as much as it will impact hotels and tour operators in Maldives, he says.
Couples’ favourite
Patrick George, owner, Prakruthi Holidays, Kammanahalli, says, “Maldives accounts for just 3-5%” of its bookings in a year, so it won’t make a big dent. “Maldives is expensive, popular mostly among Europeans. Indians prefer sightseeing over relaxing in resorts, which is what Maldives offers. Mostly honeymooners choose it,” he explains.
March-April is the marriage season in India and that has Deepika Anand, co-partner at Sumuk International Travels, a little worried. Maldives is the core business of this Ashwath Nagar agency.
She says, “We used to get two-three bookings a day but we haven’t received even one call in the past three days!” People with prior bookings are mulling cancellation or postponement for safety reasons and also “for the love of India”, she says.
Turnkey Holidays, Mahalakshmi Layout, is also fielding calls from tourists worried about cancellation of flight and resort bookings. Most travel agents feel it is a fleeting controversy and primarily people who are linked to the ruling party BJP or support their ideology are cancelling their Maldives trips.
Way cheaper
After the PM’s visit, MakeMyTrip reported a 3,400% increase in searches for Lakshadweep, and the beach destination topped Google Trends for two days. Lakshadweep is an archipelago of 36 islands, north of Maldives. It offers water activities, pristine beaches and sparsely crowded destinations.
While a four-day-five-night trip here would cost less than 1/4th of what it costs in the Maldives, it is far from a luxury island destination like its neighbour, travel experts say.
Rajiv Mehrotra, executive director, Holiday Concierge, added Lakshadweep to its offerings two years ago. He explains, “It has only four or five good hotels. These can’t take more than 100 bookings a week. There is not enough transport for tourists. Touristy sites are scattered over different islands.”
Pointing to another limitation, Ranjini Nambiar, CEO, Footloose Yatra Consultants, says that Lakshadweep stays closed to tourists much longer than Maldives due to the monsoon. “It’s not fair to compare the two. Maldives sees global arrivals while Lakshadweep is of interest only to Indians,” she says.
Ministers’ remarks backfire
In a bid to prioritise national interest over business, travel company EaseMyTrip said it has suspended all flight bookings to the island nation and introduced tour packages to Lakshadweep.
The Indian Chamber of Commerce appealed to tourism and trade associations in India to stop promoting the island nation and divert all such enquiries to Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It also urged hotel bodies to invest in Lakshadweep. Indian celebrities and the Israeli embassy also pitched in to promote India’s smallest union territory of 32 sq km as a travel destination.
Tourism body take
Sanjar Imam, president, Karnataka Tourism Forum, says it is too early to say if the standoff with Maldives will continue. But since the controversial remarks weren’t made in an official capacity, he says both the travellers and travel companies should not “make much about” the boycott trend.
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