Tourism Minister Ibrahim Faisal has revealed that Champa Hussain Afeef's Kasa Holdings, one of the shareholders of the Gan airport, is interested in the development of 130 beds for tourism in Gan.
Speaking at the launch of a special logo and branding designed to promote Addu Tourism, Faisal said that the development of tourism in the four southern atolls and all the areas where there is currently no tourism is a pledge of the current government and efforts are being made to fulfil the pledge.
The government aims to add 6,000 beds to Addu City along with the Asseyri tourism project.
In addition to the Asseyri project, Faisal said that the completion of the Hankede project and Kasa Holdings project will encourage the reopening of the now-closed Shangri-La Resort.
"We had a lot of discussions with Kasa Holdings management, one of the shareholders of the Addu Airport Company. They also want to develop 130 beds in Addu. But there are some things the government must do before that. The tourism ministry is working on that," Faisal said.
Kasa Holdings holds a 30 percent stake in Addu International Airport Company. The other 70 percent is with the Maldives government.
The biggest obstacle to tourism in the atolls is the difficulty of transportation, but with the tourism projects in Addu, the number of visitors will increase and transportation will become cheaper and easier, Faisal said.
"We are very sincere in our intention to do all the work to develop tourism in Addu, Fuvahmulah, Gaaf Alif and Gaaf Dhaal," Faisal assured.
