The tourism industry began in the Maldives since year 1972. A United Nations mission on development which visited the Maldives islands in the 1960s did not recommend tourism because of the islands were not suitable. The first resort in Maldives was launch in 1972, named by Kurumba island resort with capacity of about 280 beds. Therefore, the arrival of the first tourist group is estimated to have occurred in February of 1972. On 28th October 1972, the first paying guests came. The Italians were accommodated in 30 rooms hastily built on an island renamed Kurumba, which mean a young coconut. The resort’s walls were made of coral, the beams of coconut wood and the roofs palm-thatched. Each room in the resort had a bed, wardrobe, luggage rack and dressing table. Although the drinking water was rainwater and the meals were a repetition of tuna curry, rice, coconuts and bananas, but the tourists felt they were in …show more content…
In this period, 41 resorts were opened within a short period of time. Facilities were developed such as air services and increased capacity of resorts in a short span of time. The foreign companies also start to invest in the Maldivian tourism industry. The important thing in this phase of tourism development was The First Tourism Master Plan (FTMP) was formulated in 1983. The role of FTMP is for sustainable development of tourism, emphasized environmental protection, and integration of tourism into the social and economic development of the country. FTMP introduced rules and regulations as the guidelines for the service quality and facilities provided to tourists. Example like the built-up area on tourist resorts should not exceed 20% of the total land area of the