Island Destinations Rated: Indian Ocean Region, Maldives Falls behind Seychelles and Reunion

Panelists exchanged comments, which were kept anonymous to maintain survey neutrality during the rating process. These lightly edited excerpts offer a glimpse of panelists' varied points of view and the reasoning behind each score. They are not the views of the National Geographic Society.


Maldives (except Malé)
Score: 61

"Maldives are beautiful and unique from an ecological perspective. Underwater environment is of greatest appeal. There is little social or cultural mixing because the resorts are on their own islands (one resort per island). Some of the tourism plant is tasteful, but some is a monstrosity. Much tourism development does not promote ecological protection."

"Social impacts of tourism avoided by separation of tourists from locals on separate islands. Limited interaction between Muslim Maldivians and tourists."

"Tourists are not made aware of the locale—the Maldives are mainly viewed as a paradise location rather than a place where people actually live and work."

"While the islands have rebounded from damage from the 2004 tsunami, the Maldives are also suffering from rising sea levels, caused by climate change. Already 12 islands have been mostly abandoned and their residents moved to Malé, (around which multi-million dollar protective barriers, called 'tetrapods,' have been erected)."

Mauritius
Score: 55

"An island people with a flair for hospitality and kindness toward visitors. Mauritius is surely the only country in the world where Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Chinese, and Creoles coexist in peace and celebrate several religious festivals together."

"Culturally Mauritius is fascinating in terms of its agriculture, small hamlets, and cuisine. Its marine biodiversity is also interesting and diving is good, although many reefs are dying due to eutrophication from agriculture and hotels."

"Mauritius is in danger of continued environmental degradation unless the government acts to stop inappropriate tourist developments. More could be done to develop tourist educational facilities to inform visitors of the island's heritage."

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Réunion (France)
Score: 69

"Volcanic landscapes (both active and extinct) steal the show. The creation of a national park that covers a large share of the interior is a strong step towards safeguarding this treasure."

"Splendid environment including active volcano. A divided society with some tension between French and African/Creole peoples. French built heritage cherished, especially in the city."

"Very nice inland volcanic landscape, but the small reefs and lagoons are in bad condition. There is a lot to do and learn for those who want more than a beach. For beach and sea experiences, seek another destination."

"Alien species invasion and major infrastructure projects are threats. Generally serious attention given to environmental protection and to historic/archaeological structures. Aesthetic appeal is very high. Overall tourism development relatively careful."

Seychelles
Score: 70

"Seychelles has developed a world reputation for its hospitality, the natural beauty of its coastal environment, as well as the great diversity of its fauna and flora, both inland and at sea. Environment and biodiversity conservation is a national priority. Nevertheless, rapid economic development and port activities cause degradation of the marine environment in front of Victoria and in Sainte-Anne National Marine Park. Elsewhere, the quality of the coastal environments and the tourism experience are excellent, but it is a quite expensive destination."

"Stunning ecological quality although highly vulnerable to ocean warming and acidification."

"Outstanding example of carefully planned tourism developments. Environmental considerations feature high on the development agenda. Careful expansion of the tourist sector enhances the environmental quality. What has been developed is appropriate in scale and location."

"One of few islands with high ecological quality. Also noted for its expensiveness. Has policy to keep tourist numbers manageable. Pralin has heritage site on tortoises. Beaches on Mahe and Pralin are some of the best in the world. Unfortunately, many locals do not benefit from the industry except serving in the lower ranks."

Reports: Maldives police show footage of suspects at park just before bombing

Asia - Pacific

The Associated Press

Published: October 3, 2007

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Maldives police released footage Wednesday of two men — now being held over a park bombing that wounded tourists — apparently checking out the site minutes before the attack.

The bombing Saturday at the Sultan Park in the capital, Male, hurt 12 foreign tourists and shook the Indian Ocean tropical island nation's crucial tourism industry. No one has claimed responsibility.

Assistant Police Chief Abdullah Riyaz told The Associated Press by telephone that police had arrested three more suspects in the blast, bringing the total in custody to 14, four of them foreigners.

He did not release the foreigners' nationalities, though state media had earlier reported two of them were from Bangladesh.

Police were looking for two more men, he said.

The closed-circuit security camera footage showed two men, both now under arrest, arriving at the park together about 10 minutes before the blast, according to the Web site of the Minivan newspaper. It said they went off in separate directions about seven minutes later.

One returned on a motorcycle a minute before the bomb exploded, and he then immediately sped off, the newspaper said.

Authorities in the Sunni Muslim nation of 1,200 islands and 350,000 people have refused to discuss a possible motive, despite claiming that three suspects had confessed.

"It is too early to say whether it is linked to Islamic extremism," Riyaz told a news conference earlier in the day, according to Minivan. "We do not know if foreign groups are involved."

Maldives media have reported that police impounded a motorcycle outside a mosque on the capital island of Male.

Government officials fear the bombing — the first of its kind in the country — could scare off some of the 600,000 foreign tourists who visit each year, accounting for a third of the national economy.

Before the blast, analysts had expressed concerns about the potential for violence in the country amid the growing influence of radical Islamic preachers, who have pushed out the more liberal strain of Islam traditionally practiced in the Maldives.

The real Maldives

Meera Selva

Behind the island paradise seen by tourists is a country ruled by an autocratic regime with little interest in human rights or democracy.

October 1, 2007 6:00 PM | Gurardian Unlimited

The Maldives are a strange sort of paradise. The archipelago is gifted with soft white beaches and crystal blue seas, but the islanders themselves are seen as paupers of the Indian Ocean, forced to live off soil too thin to sustain a harvest, battered by storms and ruled by a jittery, autocratic regime that has only a passing interest in human rights and democracy.

Tourism to the Maldives began in the 1970s, as Europeans began arriving on these islands. The first group of tourists from Italy ordered dinner from the local restaurants but were so dismayed by the curries and biryanis that they asked their cooks to prepare simpler food for them.

President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who has been in power since 1978, has encouraged this disconnection between local life and the tourists' experience.

He has steadily turned various islands into acclaimed, luxurious resorts where guests pay several hundred dollars a night to stay in beach villas with their own private pools and butlers. All fruit, vegetables, wine and water are flown in to create the illusion of abundance.

Meanwhile, any Maldivian citizen caught drinking alcohol faces a hundred lashes, and one quarter of children under the age of five in the Maldives suffers from stunted growth.

The tsunami worsened this gap between the tourists and the villagers, and set the country back about 20 years in terms of socio-economic development. Out of the archipelago's 199 islands 20 were totally destroyed and another 53 were severely damaged. Schools, clinics and pharmacies were destroyed on around 50 islands. Most devastating of all, the seawater that washed over the island contaminated the groundwater and reservoirs that supply the Maldives with drinking water.

In recent years, a new kind of radical Islam has moved into the Maldives, exploiting the frustration many islanders feel at having to eke out a sparse existence in a country that has become a byword for luxury in the west.

The Maldives has always practised a moderate form of Sunni Islam, but over the last few years women who tended to wear multi-coloured headscarves have donned all encompassing black robes instead. Children are being taught at new mosques that have sprung up and that preach a more extreme form of Islam than that normally heard on the archipelago.

The government meanwhile, has fought its battles elsewhere. Political parties were only legalised in 2005, but even this judicial protection has not stopped members of the main opposition, the Maldivian Democratic party being routinely arrested and beaten. President Gayoom has accused it of being funded by Christian missionaries jealous of a Muslim country's success.

When the nailbomb exploded this Saturday in a tourist corner of Male, the president and his spokesman hinted that the MDP and a Brtish-based pressure group, the Friends of the Maldives, were responsible.

It was a clumsy piece of political manoeuvring that gave the impression that the government will go to any lengths to discredit its formal opponents. The FBI has now moved in to help with investigations, and the government is beginning to accept that Islamic fundamentalists may well be responsible instead. Their next challenge is how to give Maldivian citizens a stake in their country's development to prevent the threat from fundamental Islam growing further.

Maldives - It delivers on the promise of Eden to those who can afford its charms.

Resorts in the Maldives woo tourists with promises of 'the last paradise on earth'. If your idea of paradise is a pristine, tranquil tropical island with swaying palm trees, pure white beaches and brilliant turquoise lagoons, then the Maldives won't disappoint.

This group of 1190 coral islands is also a major destination for scuba divers, who come for the fabulous reefs and the wealth of marine life; however, this is not a place for low budget backpackers or amateur anthropologists who want to travel independently and live as the locals do.

When To Go

If you're looking for a few extra hours of sunshine then you should visit the Maldives between December and April, which is also the brilliant height of the dry season. However, this is also the main season for tourism - resorts can be fully booked and prices are higher than the rest of the year. The Christmas-New Year period is the busiest and most expensive part of the high season, when many of the all-inclusive package tourists arrive from Europe and America. Between May and November it's still warm, but the skies can be cloudy, humidity is higher and rain squalls and tropical storms blow in on the southwest monsoon. This is the official low season - prices are lower and there are fewer tourists but some resorts close for annual repairs. The transition months of November and April are said to be associated with increased water clarity and better visibility for divers.