When tourism came to the Maldives
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 6 July 2023
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1972 the first tourists arrived in the Maldives.
They stayed in humble lodgings in three houses, looked after by young Maldivians including Ahmed Naseem, Mohamed Umar Maniku and their friends.
Perfect for sunbathing, swimming and fishing. Tourists loved it.
Italian travel agent George Corbin promised to bring more travellers if they had a place to stay.
On 3 October 1972, the first hotel resort called Kurumba opened, changing the islands forever.
Now, more than 1.5 million visitors enjoy the Maldives every year.
Ahmed Naseem, one of the pioneers of the industry, shares his memories with Nikola Bartosova.
(Photo: Kurumba in the 1970s. Credit: Kurumba)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, welcome to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:09.0 | We are taking you back to the Maldives in 1972, when the first tourist arrived, changing the islands forever. |
| 0:16.0 | I've been speaking to Ahmed Nasim, who was one of the pioneers of the tourism industry. |
| 0:21.0 | The tourists were really charmed by the place, from their faces you can see, you know, how amazed they were to just go underwater and see what is underwater. |
| 0:34.0 | And to see a guy climb a coconut tree and bring down coconuts for them, you know, it was quite something for them. |
| 0:42.0 | Demaldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, lies in the Indian Ocean. |
| 0:46.0 | It is made up of a chain of nearly 1,200 islands. |
| 0:50.0 | Out of all the destinations I've been to, this one certainly lives up to its picture-perfect image, with its white sandy beaches and aqua blue waters. |
| 0:59.0 | You might know about the Maldives from programmes like the BBC Travel Show, but there was a time when this place wasn't one of the most glamorous destinations in the world. |
| 1:09.0 | Before the 1970s, the Kapitsa Malaya and the surrounding islands were not developed at all. |
| 1:15.0 | It looked very different, very, very different. Maldives was a very calm, peaceful place, hardly anything to do. |
| 1:20.0 | We used to fly kites out of our windows. It was fun, there was hardly any work to do. |
| 1:25.0 | It was sandy streets, and Malaya was very isolated. There was no connection to other islands. |
| 1:30.0 | There were two flights a year, I think it was at that time, just to bring the teachers and then take them back. |
| 1:39.0 | Ahmet was part of a group of young Maldivian people who had big ambitions. |
| 1:43.0 | These included Mohamed Umar Manikul, who were known as the men who built paradise. But where did the idea come from? |
| 1:50.0 | I studied in Sri Lanka, in that time Sri Lanka was the beginning tourism, and used to see these sorts of hotels on the beach. |
| 2:01.0 | I used to wonder how it would be in Maldives from very young days. I thought it was very possible to have tourism here. |
| 2:09.0 | It was a family idea, Mr Manikul's idea. We worked together very closely. We are known each other from childhood. |
| 2:17.0 | Ahmet was then working with the Embassy of Maldives in Colombo in Sri Lanka. |
| 2:21.0 | A meeting there with an Italian travel agent George Corbin in 1971 changed everything. |
| 2:27.0 | He wanted to come to Maldives and he said he had a lot of concerns because the travel agency told him that there were cannibals in the country. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.