PERSBERICHT - 2005-01-13

Meeste resorts onbeschadigd, toeristische infrastructuur 'up and running'

Hartekreet uit de Malediven: 'Blijf niet weg'

Het toerisme op de Malediven ondervindt geen of nauwelijks nog hinder van de gevolgen van de tsunami, die de eilandengroep op Tweede Kerstdag trof. De toeristische infrastuctuur is nagenoeg volledig hersteld, hotels zijn in orde evenals het internationale vliegveld en de verbindingen door de lucht en over het water tussen de eilanden onderling. Vanuit de Malediven daarom een hartekreet aan de toeristen: "Straf ons niet extra door weg te blijven, maar steun ons door uw vakantie in ons prachtige gebied door te brengen".

De hartekreet van het team van 'AAA hotels en resorts' uit de Malediven kwam terecht bij directeur Susan van Egmond van Travel Marketing Company TMC in Amsterdam. De meegestuurde foto's leveren het bewijs, dat er zeer veel ongeschonden is gebleven. Bovendien wordt hard gewerkt aan herstel van de nog resterende schade.

Belangrijkste is echter de keiharde garantie vanuit de Malediven, dat de toerist die op de eilandengroep zijn vakantie wil komen doorbrengen daar als vanouds hoogwaardige accommodatie en verzorging zal aantreffen met een kwaliteit als vanouds.

De update die het AAA-team stuurde, en die we onverkort ter informatie opnemen, alsmede de meegestuurde foto's geven een actueel beeld, dat elke aarzeling en twijfel kan wegnemen: de Malediven zijn 'alive and kicking', er is geen reden om wat dan ook te nanuleren.

Onderstaand de update:

In the aftermath of the terrible Tsunami, and with all the constant media coverage mentioning the widespread destruction, we have a rather difficult time convincing you that we are alive, well and "kicking".

Unfortunately, some Travel Agents, even big ones, are contributing to the overall bad and negative coverage by saying that much of the Maldives infrstructure is destroyed. We cannot stress enough the point that this is NOT the case. The infrastructure is up and working (for the Tourists, that means mostly the hotels in Male, the Seaplane transfers and international Airport), and it is working to a level that the Tourist will not realize there has been a flood at all.

Victim
Since the beginning of this decade tourism in Asia has been a victim of one disaster or another. First the indirect effects of 9/11 in 2001, followed by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Bali bombing attacks in 2003 and now, the tsunami tragedy of December 26, which has dealt a huge blow to the affected countries in terms of the sheer volume of loss: human and economic.

Issuing global travel advisories against the victim countries does actually more damage than good. While it is important for each government to warn its countrys citizens of the dangers (epidemic outbreak, unsanitary conditions, etc) in tsunami-affected areas, there are other parts that remain safe.

For example, why should 68 fully functioning resorts, left untouched in the recent tragedy, be penalized just because of a general travel advisory against Maldives ? These travel advisories will cause further misery on the affected countries and their people, as it will economically ruin them further when they need the most help to revive and re-build.

Back to normal
We must make the effort to get the Maldives back to normal if not better and build the confidence level of the people who have lost all. Its actually the poorest of the poor who have been affected the most in each of these countries. And although no amount of international aid or outpouring of support can provide adequate relief to those directly affected, we need to at least start the process here in the Maldives which can profit so much from all the tourists which know this place and actually want to come and visit, if they only would have the proper information and, by now, flight connections.

Status
The death toll in Maldives is 82, with another 26 missing. The number of people displaced is placed at 12,720. Of the 199 inhabited islands in the archipelago, 14 islands have been completely evacuated, and many other islands do not have safe drinking water or, for that matter, electricity. Approximately 25 islands have communication problems.

Of the countrys 87 luxury resort islands, only 19 have had to shut down for repairs, whereas out of these 19, 6 have been destroyed (among them our beloved Medhufushi). However, due to the publicity of the affected areas, even those islands which have been left untouched are negatively affected. A country that is very heavily dependent on tourism is being severely affected and we must do everything possible to help to avoid an economic disaster. The outlook in the short term looks not very overwhelming, but with your support we can "cushion" the negative impact.

Due to the governments "one island, one resort" policy, the individual resorts are self sustaining, meaning they have their own electricity, waste water recyclying, water making facilities and are not dependent on a infrastructure grid such as beaches on a mainland which are just "hooking" into the provided infrastructure.Therefore the infrastructure damage is limited to the directly affected islands, and if one island's electricity is out of order, it will not affect the other islands power supply because this infrastructure is not based on a grid system.

We will send photos taken on January 9 (2005) to convince you we are still above waterlevel (seeing is believing) in the emails to follow.

AAA Resorts
Eventually, you also wonder what is our status now. Therefore please find below the details for our resorts:

Eriyadu Island Resort
The wave has done some flooding, washed away the jetty, and flooded some rooms. The status is as follows:

- The Main Jetty was severely damaged, but is under repair and we estimate to have it back by 2 weeks

- Some outdoor A/C units were damaged but have been replaced with new ones on the same day.

- Some rooms were slightly flooded, but have been "dried", repaired and re-equipped with the necessary furniture. It's better than new
- The toilet wall of one of the rooms was damaged, but has been repaired already

- As no boats were damaged, the guest transfer is unaffected and functioning as well as before

Nothing else was damaged and is working like there has not been any wave at all.

Vilamendhoo Island Resort
Also here, we have experienced some flooding, but it did not last long


- 7 Guest rooms were slightly flooded, but also here no major damage occured and all the affected items have been replaced and the rooms are better than new

- There was no further damage caused to any structure, equipement or buildings on the island. Guest rooms, restaurants, bars etc are all in normal and unaffected condition

- Excursions were stopped for safety reasons, but are back to normal so all guests can enjoy again the beauty surrounding this amazing island

- Guest transfers by seaplane and speedboat are unaffected and working normally

Filitheyo Island Resort There is absolutly no damage to Filitheyo Island Resort. Island is operating normally, it has not been affected at all by the December 26 waves.


- All beaches are there where they are supposed to be, actually they are even better now

- Bungalows have no damage whatsoever

- All restaurants and bars are operating normally
- MAT flights are operating smoothly and are even more punctual now than ever before

- Excursions are operating as normal, Hamza Island has been cleaned and guests are enjoying the marvellous solitude in luxury again on that little piece of paradise

Medhufushi Island Resort
Medhufushi was severly hit and consequently damaged. All guests and staff survived the ordeal and have been evacuated within 24 hours after the wave struck. The entire Atoll could not be contacted anymore except by boat, and when the actual picture finally emerged we were able, with the help of the Maldivian Coast Guard, to evacuate all clients by a Pakistani Naval Vessel which was on a goodwill tour. The hotel remains closed until further notice, but we will keep you informed of what will be happening.

Dear Friends, together we will be able to make it work. Coming to the Maldives for holidays will also help us in minimising the effects of tsunami and for us to get back into some normalicy.

Thank you AAA Team