Ahmed Shareef

Ages after my last post here I am again just to drop you a few lines on my whereabouts. I had a hectic period over the past months especially when the economic crisis banged the fragile tourism industry making lot of fuss around everywhere while I had an important step in my plans. But, I’m back on track and I was pretty quick as there are many others still in the deep blue sea.

After completion of a very successful 4 year in hospitality service I am back to my studies again. I think this option is no bad for a time of recession. Taking into consideration that many new resorts are planned for opening in next couple of years, by then I must be able to finish my studies. It is going so far so good, always on busy schedule. Hopefully I will have some free time in next semester.

Kulhudhuffushi Member of Parliament (MP) submits a bill to the parliament on enforcing the banks to give study loans of at least MRF15 million annually, collectively MRF90 million per year from 6 banks operating in Maldives. According to the draft, loans range from MRF57,000 to MRF500,000 and repayment starts 6 months after completion of studies, with a repayment period of 10 – 15 years. Interest rates can go upto 8%. The government guarantees 60% of the loan and remaining 40% by the student.

If you were a student the news would be delightful to hear, especially if you were financing your studies on your own. As for bank managers, this might cause them cry out laud, at least for a while. Even though money is not lent for free as per the drafted bill, it has never been practiced in Maldives and there are solid reasons.

The legislation system in Maldives has been extremely unstable for the past few years, due to so many reasons one cannot list out, and for all these years the banks were not prohibited of issuing the so called student loan which is practiced in many developed countries around the globe. So, why has no bank started this loan and earned the interest?

Banks do business with cash; they buy and sell or exchange cash in different forms and means. As per my knowledge, so far the government has not enforced any bank to follow any form of loan scheme in Maldives, allowing the banks to practice free trade. May be this is one of the reasons that several overseas banks had applied for operating license in Maldives; free trade of banking has encouraged remarkably over the years.

When it comes to an enforced student loan scheme to be practiced by all banks operating in Maldives, banking may not become unprofitable even with unstable legislation and high records of criminology. But, when a respective Member of Parliament submits such a bill which does not balance the mechanism of free trade, in my opinion, Maldives may lose confidence by potential investors. Even if other Members of Parliament reject the bill, still the issue of instability remains bold in potential investors who are already withholding the planned projects just for lack of confidence.

Baseless bills submitted to the floor, even if they didn’t get passed, and even if the candidate didn’t get showered with support, it might shake up investors and certainty of instability would become more certain with every unfolding story as such.

Providing student loans are as important as providing free and fair banking in the country, or less than that. So, having initiated this issue in the parliament, the MP may deserve some credit, only if it does not exceed its negative inplications. So, now I’m stuck halfway through. Therefore, getting back to the topic, it might be more effective for the MP himself and for fellow Maldivians if the bill was drafted on a recognition system in exchange for student loan scheme.

Do you think it’s a revolutionary new style to walk with your laptop? Would it be easier to carry this way? Would people notice if you walk this style? First, let me tell you what this picture is about.

Adamo is a high class ultra-thin laptop recently introduced by Dell. If you visit Adamo’s home page, you will be inspired by a series of these new styles. It has got the pride of being world’s thinnest laptop presently in the market. The glass screen and extra battery life on top of its finely done finishing makes it simply irresistible. You can read more specs from their website.

To me, the pictures are more attractive than it. Conceptual photography portrayed is superb, with a lot of similarity to high-end hotel photography techniques which I was going through a few years back. You may have already noticed some features.

Adamo is stylish, the woman walks in style, setting a feel of new presence. Adamo is thin, so is the woman in high heels. When she walks into a supermarket, would people stare at her? Just like the brand new Adamo in laptop market? When you saw the picture for the time, if you left it was not ordinary, would you go further and see what’s new?

Marriott standard for photography tends to avoid showing too much in a single photo as simplicity has greater impact.

The picture does not target much detail and hardly understand what she is carrying, and that’s how simple it is.

If you were at a tourism college you might have heard of tourism being multi-dimensional. But, have you ever heard of earthquake debris being converted to a tourism product?

Chinese province of Suchian was hit by a deadly earthquake measured 8.0 magnitude on 12th May 2008. Thousands of people were killed and many were buried both alive and dead underneath building collapses as per reports. The tragedy capsized lives of the province with no hope for generations to come.

Suchian Tourism Bureau had recently announced development of a museum park with all building collapses as tourist attractions. Some news papers reported that demand for this tourism product was huge as per Chinese officials and it was difficult to avoid the public demand. Hoping visitors would pay due respect to the lives passed away, Chinese officials were initially to open places like schools, bridges and factories.

Now, do you wonder if a country like Maldives can overturn the tsunami debris into dark tourism? As for Chinese, it is not difficult to assume that they targeted for domestic tourism. The country’s population is big enough for a market, and proportion of population who suffered such disasters is very small. So, there is a huge chunk in the target market who might be interested to visit the museum. Comparing the same to Maldives, there seems no leverage in size of local population and no strength in the segment.

Though, I am not an expert marketer, comparing the scenario for both Suchians and Maldivians, the picture comes in two different colours. Even if Suchian citizens benefit out of the disaster, it may not be only impossible for Maldivians to benefit out of tsunami, but also lead to negative effects on already established beach holiday market. If you were a holidaymaker in Maldives and you saw tsunami debris, would it makes you come back again or would it make you fly back home quickly? Or just none?

If you are tired of reading the dark tourism, allow me to cook another dish with same meat!

Though I am not a basketball fan, it is well-known that basket players are usually very tall. Assuming you are not that tall, if you take some pills and manage to reach the height you desire, could it have adverse effects, just like dark tourism not being suitable for Maldives? The comparision has now taken shape of a principle?

My friend and I went to Dolphin Cafe for a drink. That day was so hot and evening was warm too. So, I wanted to go for something cold. My friend ordered an energy drink and I chose a Granini blackcurrant. It didn’t take too long to relax me in the breeze of open-air terrace. By then, I had only few sip left in the glass.

The empty glass with some left out sips looked nicely wrapped in pale red around. So, I asked my friend if he could render some light with his mobile phone while I took the shot from top.

The outer circle seen on the picture is actually the rim and red inner core is the left out drinks where light comes though. Though the pixels don’t look so low quality, I had a Nokia phone with only 1.2MP for this shot.

Every resort in Maldives has some sort of welcome proceeding for arrival guests. A team member goes to the jetty and expects guest’s arrival before the boat could alongside. In some resorts the Greeter goes to jetty before a guest onboard could notice the people on the island.

When the guests travel by boat many do enjoy the scenery of tropical island chains in different shapes and colours. A silhouette view of the island comes into sight from a distance of 10 miles. The guests could notice the size and some vegetation of the island compared with neighboring islands if any. Soon they see the glimmering white beach, and when the boat is close to 2 miles they see the structures of different shapes beautifully portrayed in real colours.

Guests see a well-groomed team of staff await standing upright watching the boat arrive. They feel the resort is well prepared for their arrival. The team members smile and greet each and every guest in finest words of hospitality as soon as they get off. They are then guided to lobby or welcome pavilion where servers expect them with cold funnel and welcome drinks. Passports are collected along with travel agent’s vouchers and team members fill the registration cards quickly and continue the check-in process.

This could be a normal arrival to a resort in Maldives. However, the luxury chains have specific phrases and standards to use during different interactions with the guests, including the arrival. In Marriott, the arrival treatment is called Arrival Ritual. The word itself has the fine touch of warm hospitality and spirit to serve. Marriott’s Renaissance brand have these steps in their Arrival Ritual:

WELCOME:
A. “Welcome to Renaissance”
B. guide the guest
C. Delighted to welcome

RECOGNISE:
D. Use the standard
E. Greet for the time of the day with a smile
F. “We are delighted to welcome you”… and guest name

PERSONALIZE:
G. They use the guest name as often as possible.
H. Find out the guest needs
I. Attentive, proactive and maintains the flow of conversation

These standards are quite common in Maldives as they are pretty basic, I would say.

The Arrival Ritual is just a single chapter of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which includes the complete set of standards for hotel operations. All high class resorts in Maldives have this in place and the entire operation is precisely guided. But, inspiring terms like ‘Arrival Ritual, Mr.Friday, Thakuru’ are still rare in the Maldives.

Tourists get lot of facilities and services from the resorts, only sky is the limit or the tourist’s budget, and tourism is multi-dimensional. Every high-end resort walks the extra mile and earns smiles. All resorts have; spa, water sports centre, diving centre, food and drinks. Only Huvafen Fushi has an underwater spa, and only Conrad Maldives has underwater restaurant, two distinctive features of luxury tourism. But, every resort with a luxury feature may not be a luxury resort, if they are too weak on other aspects. The tourist who wants to visit Maldives and enjoy an underwater-dinner has only one place to pick. When another resort owner comes to hosts an underwater restaurant, certainly he won’t get the success Conrad got from it. Conrad has been doing it for years and they are also popular for that, even without considering the brand image. Hence, a new resort operator who goes for luxury business and wants to achieve immense popularity needs to come up with an ingenious innovation, just like Huvafen Fushi when they were newly getting into the business. So, now the industry needs a new chapter of exclusive tourism.

Few months back I heard on TV that the government was leasing some islands for agricultural development. By the way, now some people might have got the island. There were some bids submitted with the intention of proving a tourism support service and when the government denied allowing it on those islands, the people lost their interest. That was when I became interested in agricultural islands. They can cultivate vegetables and fruits, and sell to the local market or to the resorts near by. May be that is why some people were interested. But that is not my plan and it’s no where close to my plan. My plan ends up on creating the so-called ‘image’.

“The newly opened luxury resort in the Maldives has its own island producing vegetables and tropical fruits, and is freshly transported to the resort every day. Guests see just-plucked fruits with its fresh leaves laid out on display where chef slices it right in front” Imagine the impression! Isn’t it exclusive?

The taste might not be so different than the ones we import quite freshly. But it’s the impression which creates the image, making it so exclusive. A special island is there for the purpose and many workers do the job, just to deliver it fresh. When this goes together with high-class service, guests will notice the resorts commitment on ‘attention to detail’. And no other resort in Maldives does it.

When guests get treatments in underwater spa they get nothing more than just a good impression. They keep watching the fish as they walk towards the treatment bed which most probably have seen while snorkeling or diving. Most people keep the  eyes closed or even lay face down during the treatment and feel the real comfort. But they feel so special to get a treatment in the world’s first underwater spa. It is the impression which creates difference. The image makes a tremendous impact.