About Maldives

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In 1972 tourism was introduced to the island nation, Maldives. The first tourist group arrived estimated to have occurred during February 1972. Kurumba Maldives (Vihamanaafushi) and Bandos were among the first two resorts that operated with a capacity of about 280 beds, from then onward Maldives continued to build more luxurious resorts having world's leading hotel chains settling and building properties to cater the growing demand of Maldives Tourism Sector.

Soon after the beginning of Tourism, the Liveaboard Sector started just a Year later with the operation of the safari boat namely "Alaadeen". Today Maldives caters with over 165 Liveaboards of different standards.

In this time over four decades, The Maldives has become prominent in the international spotlight for an aspect of our natural beauty. The nations had developed but has always preserved the sea and beneath. Nearly 200 various standard properties have been built perfectly by local and international brands. While Maldives has become a synonymous and ultimate tropical holiday destination among world class travelers. This fact alone is enough to bring over a million visitors a year in to this tiny, little Indian Ocean Paradise.

Geography & Climate 

Maldives is situated in the Indian Ocean and a country of South Asia which is 450 miles west of Sri Lanka. It is a small nation that consist approximately 1,192 coral islands that form an archipelago of 26 major atolls stretching like a gems across the Indian Ocean. These give us a rare glimpse of a promising paradise and consistently whiter-than-white powder sand and luminous cyan-blue water likes this almost nowhere else on earth.

Two seasons dominate Maldives' weather: the dry season associated with the winter northeast monsoon which is from November to April and the rainy season brought by the summer southwest monsoon which is from May to October. There would be an average annual rainfall of 2,540 millimeters (100 in) in the north and 3,810 millimeters (150 in) in the south. The temperature of Maldives ranges between 24 and 33 °C (75.2 and 91.4 °F) throughout the year. Although the humidity is relatively high, the constant sea breezes help to keep the air moving.

Time:	GMT+5hrs
Capital island:	Male’
Total islands:	1,192
Inhabited islands:	184
Resort islands:	105
Population: Major industries:	Approx. 350,000 Tourism and Fishing
Currency:	Rufiyaa (USD 1 = MRF 15.42)
Electricity:	240 AC
Government Working hours:	8:00 am to 3:00 pm Sunday to Thursday
Bank hours:	9:00am to 03:00 pm Sunday to Thursdays

Population

The Maldives is a small nation; the current population ofthe Maldives is roughly 373,070 as of year 2016. It is equivalent to 0.01% of the total world population and it ranks number 178 in the list of population.

Until this time our origin isn’t very clear. There is no historical evidence about origin of Maldivians; as a spot on the Indian Ocean’s trading route, genes maybe from many travellers or settlers from a close-by country such as India, Sri Lanka, and other Southeast Asian neighbors.

Language

Dhivehi is the mother language spoken in all parts of the Maldives. Tourist can easily communicate with Maldivian since English is widely spoken in this nation and visitors can easily make themselves understood in the capital city most specially In the resorts, a variety of languages are spoken by the staff including English, Chinese, German, French, Italian and Japanese.

Religion

Since Maldives embraced Islam in 1153. The main events and festivals of Maldivian life follow the Muslim Calendar. From infancy children are taught the Arabic alphabet. Religious education is provided both at home and at school. Islam is part of the school curriculum and is taught concurrently with other subjects.

Currency 

The Maldivian currency is in Rufiyaa commonly abbreviated as MVR or just RF. However they used USD (United States Dollar) as their second currency, therefore tourist can easily exchange or pay in USD. The exchange rate for the US Dollar is fixed at MVR 15.42. There are ATMs at the airport and in Male’. Resorts generally accept most currencies and credit cards. Commonly used credit cards are American Express, Visa, Master Card, Diners Club, JCB and Euro Card