Preliminary Survey on Tourism Promotion Project in Alifu Alifu Atoll/Rashidu Island (Residential Island) (Local Authorities for International Relations)

Implementation period: August 2022 to March 2023

Background/Objective: In the Maldives, income generated from tourism, primarily to resort island destinations, is driving the country's growth. However, vulnerabilities include (1) limited opportunities to sell local products, and (2) a large proportion of foreigners working at the resort and a small proportion of Maldivians. Currently, the Maldives government is aiming to revive a resilient tourism industry from the corona disaster, and the main target is not a resort island but a residential island. With this as an opportunity, we plan to work to realize various forms of tourism, such as homestays and cultural tourism, on the islands of residents. Based on this policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar selected Rashidhoo Island as the target area for this project as a site to promote a tourism model for local government islands, and officially notified it in writing.
With a population of 1,204, Rashidhoo Island is an island located 58km west of the capital, Male, and has the comparative advantage of being close to the capital and international airport. . In promoting tourism on Rashidhoo Island, it is important to keep in mind how to promote tourism that contributes to improving the lives of the residents while preserving the lifestyles and traditions of the islanders.
Both Yomitan Village and Rashidu Island are thriving in fishing and tourism, and both have many things in common. It can be said that it embodies Against this background, this project aims to create a system to promote tourism based on the concept of local production for local consumption while protecting the lives of the people living on Rashidhoo Island. A preliminary survey was conducted with the support of the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations.

Activities: Discussions and coordination with project stakeholders, project outline explanations, and various meetings were held. In addition, we conducted a field survey to understand the current situation regarding tourism, tourism resources, industry, special products, etc., and the implementation system of policies and administration on Rashidhoo Island in Alifu Alifu Atoll. Based on the results of the survey, Yomitan Village, along with Lequio Wings, proposed a JICA grassroots technical cooperation project for the fiscal 2022 public offering.