The Republic of Maldives

What Attracts Tourists to the Maldives?

Natural Factors


The Maldives is advertised to the world as “The sunny side of life” and a place for the sun, sea and sands. These natural factors are the most apparent reasons why the Maldives is used for tourism.

Because of its geographical position at the equator the Maldives has a warm and tropical climate and this is one of the main reasons why the Maldives is so popular to tourists.  The average daily temperature is 30 degrees Celsius and the average night time temperature is 25 degrees Celsius making for warm, sunny days and cooler nights. Since the Maldives consist of small atolls completely surrounded by the ocean there are constant sea breezes bringing in cooler air from the ocean. The sun is also a major natural factor in why people come to the Maldives. Because the country is situated at the equator the central parts of the country receives 2784.51 hours of sunshine a year.  The Maldives experiences the monsoonal climate because of its position near the equator and has two very different seasons, the dry season and the wet monsoon season.
There are around 1,109 different coral atolls in the Republic of Maldives and because of the large number only 200 of the islands are actually inhabited and lived on (88 of those islands are resort islands). This makes the Maldives a tempting place to visit because of the large areas that are untouched by man and tourists can travel to private atolls to see, feel and hear undisturbed nature, alone and by themselves.

Each atoll is made of low lying islands surrounded by beautiful white sandy beaches which are a huge attraction to tourists.
The Maldives was created when the Indian and African tectonic plates were forced against each other due to the convection currents in the mantle. A very long mountain range of volcanoes was produced (2,000 km long) in the Indian Ocean. In time these volcanoes collapsed back into themselves and coral starting growing on the underwater edges of the volcano. As the volcano continued to subside the coral continued to grow until it was a complete ring of reef. These reefs then protect the coral island that forms inside them and creating a lagoon around the island, a safe haven for marine life and also humans as it is protected from the wild seas of the ocean. These lagoons are one of the main attractions to the Maldives; one because they are protected from the ocean swells and are generally flat and calm and also because they have an abundant source of marine ecology. The lagoons in the Republic of Maldives have warm, clear and tranquil waters with high visibility of up to 50 meters nearly all year round. The Maldives has one of the world’s richest coral reef areas for diving and snorkeling.  The species of fish and other underwater life (over 1000 species) are a great attraction and allow for the popular tourism activities of snorkeling, diving and fishing. The monsoon tides in the Indian Ocean have caused this abundance of fish from tiny shrimp to colourful fish and sharks.

Picture
The Monthly Average Temperature in the Maldives
Source: http://202.21.178.203/mms/
Picture
                              The Republic of the Maldives

Cultural Factors


The Republic of Maldives has an apparently stable economy as there has only been small amounts of inflation and no cases of hyper-inflation. This is a reason why people go to the Maldives because they know what their dollar will be worth in the Maldives and will know how much everything is going to cost them.
The Maldives also has an apparently stable political situation. However the Maldives has had a slightly rocky political background with several political protests since 2003 calling for political reform. But in 2008 the first multi-party election was held and the political situation has been stable ever since. This is reassuring to tourists because they would not go to a country that was unstable and susceptible to violent political demonstrations.

Picture
                 The Maldives is located in the Indian Ocean
Picture
The Monthly Average Rainfall & Sunshine
Source: http://202.21.178.203/mms/