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The Maldives’ beauty comes naturally, but the hospitality infrastructure was constructed over the previous 50 years by hoteliers. The Maldives was just an uninhabited archipelago dispersed across the Indian Ocean. A destination with no investments, no tourism infrastructure, and no regular flights, and a place unheard of by the rest of the world. In fact, a UNDP panel decided that tourism in the Maldives will never prosper. Despite this, the Maldives has gone against all odds and transformed into a destination that captures the imaginations and dreams of billions of peoples across the world !
The Maldives reinvented themselves from a tropical paradise with no foreign investment to an exotic paradise with private island resorts. The rate of development and expansion has been exponential over the years that, Maldives has gone from having 1,192 islands with little foreign investment to having around 179 registered resorts by 2022.
It all started with a casual encounter in Colombo between George Corbin, an Italian travel agency, and Ahmed Naseem, a Maldives Embassy subordinate who subsequently became Foreign Minister. Corbin was looking for an off-the-beaten-path island retreat for his clients at the time, and Naseem introduced him to the Maldives’ pristine islands in 1971. Corbin fell in love with the picturesque Maldives archipelago at first sight and vowed to return with more guests.
Corbin returned to the Maldives in February 1972 with the first tourists, mostly journalists and photographers, to present the world the Maldives’ potential. They stayed in three residences in Malé, where they were looked after by M U Maniku and his associates, including Hussain Afeef. The Maldives captivated them with it’s ideal conditions for swimming, sunbathing, and fishing. Corbin then agreed to send more tourists provided Maniku, Naseem, and Afeef could find them a place to stay, and so The Maldives’ very first Resort: Kurumba (translates to Coconut in Dhivehi) Village came into existence.
The resort first opened its doors on Tuesday, October 3, 1972. Kurumba has matured into the Grand Hotel of the Maldives, setting the benchmark for hospitality in the region and the tropics at large, through a process of natural growth, proud perseverance, led by heartfelt service over the years, and the precedent set by Corbin and Naseem that Maldives had immense tourism potential. Kurumba’s example drew international investment, and the country’s economy has been a resounding success ever since.
Even now, 50 years later, with every vacation booked and every new resort created, there is a focus on conserving and protecting the Maldivian ecosystem. The crystalline clear blue seas, rustling palm leaves, unique coral reefs, and magnificent white sandy beaches that captured the first tourists in the 1970s are the primary factors that have kept the Maldives popular!
