It was my second visit to AA Thoddoo a week before Ramadan and had a mixed experience over my expectations. Thoddoo’s population is approximately 3000 of which 20% comprises foreigners working in the agriculture and tourism industry. This number could increase to 4000 during the peak season of tourism including tourists. Guesthouse tourism has brought an unbelievable amount of revenue to ‘watermelon’ island over the years, in fact, a lot of people who earlier worked in Male’ and resorts have returned to the island over the last decade to enjoy the opportunities brought together with the introduction of local tourism.

What’s beautiful about the island is the agricultural fields around the island. At least 60% of the island is used for this purpose. Round the year they harvest a variety of items including, betel leaf, papaya, cucumber, brinjal, chili, lettuce, and so on. Watermelon is specially cultivated for Ramadan and initial work starts 3 months prior to that. Sunrises and sunsets still amaze me on every island, and it was no different in Thoddoo with its stunning beaches. What’s more than beautiful is the ‘WoW road’ which is referred to as a must-visit location and anyone missing visiting this wonderful location has not completed the trip to Thoddoo, per se. This is the most visited location for photography and sightseeing on the Island.

Let’s look at the economic side of the island. There are over fully functioning 60 guesthouses and approximately 400 beds. This can cater to at least 800 guests during peak season. This may sound like an operation of a big resort. According to the native people, they’ve been enjoying serving guests over the years and everyone is working hard to provide a better experience to their clients. Let’s do a simple calculation without any overestimations. Other things being equal, let’s say the rack rate is $50 per room only per night for double occupancy, this will alone make an inflow of $20,000 to the whole island in 24hrs and monthly which will total up to $600,000. An average budget tourist spends $150 per day for accommodation, food, and activities, which also means at least Thoddoo will pocket $100,000 per day during a full season. That’s the direct economic impact of tourism on this host destination. Guesthouse owners enjoy revenue from other sources such as airport transfers and selling locally produced food and souvenir items. The number of restaurants has also increased with guesthouse tourism which also caters expected quality of menu items. The size of marts and variety of items stacked in racks show the island community is benefiting from the guesthouse tourism.

Let’s talk about betel leaf as well! Harvesting betel leaf is the next best thing Thoddoo people do. An owner of the betel leaf farm does earn an average of MVR20,000-MVR25,000 per month. That’s monthly and it is big money for a household on an island. This looks more promising to me than harvesting watermelon only for Ramandan as the latter will yield an average of MVR50,000-75,000 per household by working 3 months. However, during the watermelon season, the island glows better and watermelon fields are the best visitor locations on the island. Proximity to Male’ enables farmers to manage their supply and transfer their crops in new conditions to Male’ every morning. Often speed ferries are operated between Male and Thoddoo during the week which is a plus point for visitors and takes an hour if the sea is calm and generous.

A bumpy buggy ride around the island will make sure you demand a relaxing massage at the end of the day. That’s how bad the situation of almost all the roads on the island is. Over the years, Thoddoo has seen several incidents, especially of tourists due to these terrible conditions of the roads. Heard some saying people have fallen off buggies and been injured during such trips. Someone like me who is new to the island must not drive a motorbike on a rainy day because you never know where the potholes are, and it is everywhere.

Overall, it was a great experience on a well-known island in the Maldives. People are pretty friendly, and everyone is somewhat occupied with their job or running their own businesses. In fact, there are a lot of opportunities on the island for everyone to earn something and more than something compared to other islands. Returning to Thoddoo is a promise, especially for a vacation.

The above article has been written by Ahmed Riza, CEO & MD Realty Consultancy Maldives.