Around 3,000 beds will be created in a new tourist zone in the Maldives to ease a capacity shortage at peak periods.
Maldives Tourism Promotion Board director-general Abdulla Mausoom said the new beds will be in hotels split across several islands in four atolls in the south of the country.
The properties will be served by an airport on the island of Gan. One small hotel is already open in the area and a second is being built on Herethere island by a Maldivian company. Shangri-La plans to open a 200-villa spa hotel on Villingili Island in the first quarter of 2008.
Mausoom said: “We need the additional capacity because we always have a shortage of beds in peak season. Visitor numbers are down from two years ago but we are running at an average 82% occupancy.”
The UK is the second-largest market, down from the top spot last year, accounting for 18% of total visitors.
Unlike the rest of the Maldives, where hotels are on their own islands, some of the new properties will be on islands inhabited by Maldivians.
He said: “Tourists will be able to see how Maldivians live. It will be a new experience for visitors and create jobs for locals.”