In 2023, the Maldives recorded 1.88 million tourist arrivals — a 12.6% increase from the year before. Yet only 15% of employed Maldivian men and 4% of employed Maldivian women work in tourism. The gap between visitor numbers and local benefit is the central tension of the country’s tourism economy.
On paper, the Maldives runs on tourism. The sector accounts for roughly 30% of GDP, and tourism tax supplies up to 70% of total government revenue. But the picture looks different from the islands where most Maldivians actually live. Over 170 resorts — most of them foreign-owned — occupy their own islands, while inhabited island communities see little of that spending. A 2020 study in the Geojournal of Tourism and Geosites confirmed what many islanders already knew: tourism growth has been dominated by foreign-controlled resorts, with benefits distributed unevenly.
This article looks at the community-based tourism initiatives trying to change that balance. It draws on recent developments in the Horsburgh Atoll Tourism Alliance (HATA), guesthouse growth on inhabited islands, and the emerging “atoll thinking” framework for the creative economy. The question is not whether community tourism exists — it does — but whether it can grow fast enough and fairly enough to rebalance a system built for resorts.
Community tourism in the Maldives is real, growing, and structurally fragile. Guesthouses now account for 19% of total bed capacity, and the HATA cooperative model in Baa Atoll shows what community-led governance can achieve. But leakage estimates range from 55% to over 80% — meaning most tourism revenue still leaves local economies. The sector is promising but not yet transformative at scale.
| Community Tourism Model | Where It Operates | Core Structure | Key Challenge |
|---|---|---|---|
| HATA cooperative | Horsburgh Atoll (Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve) | Community-owned DMO with voting rights and dividends | Scaling beyond one atoll; securing long-term funding |
| Guesthouse tourism | Inhabited islands across the country | Locally owned guesthouses, tours, and restaurants | Competition with all-inclusive resorts; limited marketing reach |
| Creative economy initiatives | Malé and regional hubs | Digital entrepreneurs, artisans, heritage revival projects | Weak digital payment infrastructure; access to finance |
| Cultural exchange programs | Thulusdhoo, Maafushi, Guraidhoo, and others | Workshops, cooking classes, volunteering | Dependence on visitor interest; seasonal demand |
These four models overlap in practice but differ in governance, scale, and the kind of traveler they attract. The table below compares them across attributes that matter most for understanding how community tourism actually works on the ground.
Why most tourism revenue misses local communities
The term “leakage” describes what happens when tourism spending leaves the local economy — paying for imported goods, foreign staff, or international ownership. For small island developing states, the World Bank conservatively estimates leakage at 55%. For some, including the Bahamas, the figure exceeds 80%. The Maldives fits this pattern.
Resorts typically provide accommodation, meals, spas, excursions, dive shops, and souvenir shops in-house. Guests have little reason to spend money on inhabited islands. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the limited circulation of US dollars — confined mainly to resort banking — restricted local access to USD for medical care, education, and family support. The pandemic also exposed a policy gap: the government allowed foreign resorts to reopen while delaying local guesthouses. That decision directly prompted the formation of HATA.
Employment figures reinforce the imbalance. Only 15% of employed Maldivian men and 4% of employed Maldivian women work in tourism. Managerial positions within resorts often go to expatriates, limiting career pathways for locals. Households that do have a member working in tourism are more likely to be non-poor — but most households don’t have that connection.
Horsburgh Atoll: A cooperative model takes shape
Horsburgh Atoll, also known as Goidhoo Atoll, sits within the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Three islands make up the atoll: Goidhoo (population roughly 835), Fehendhoo (318), and Fulhadhoo (391). Goidhoo focuses on agriculture — watermelon farming, fishing, rope making, and thatch weaving — while Fehendhoo and Fulhadhoo rely mainly on fisheries. The area contains the largest mangrove forest in Baa Atoll and serves as a roosting site for migratory birds.
In 2020, during the pandemic, the three island councils did something unprecedented: they sat together in a public forum to chart a sustainable tourism path. HATA Coordinator Rayya Hussain noted this was the first time the councils had met to discuss common issues and see real community benefits. That meeting led to the formation of the Horsburgh Atoll Tourism Alliance, structured as a cooperative where community members hold voting rights and receive dividends from tourism development.
The alliance now includes 17 registered guesthouses and a growing number of restaurants and tour operators. But governance challenges remain. Local councils and authorities lack formal mechanisms for collaboration with public, private, and NGO actors. Tourism actors often work independently. HATA has proposed clearer roles for local councils and stakeholders, along with regulations on building height, waste management, and environmental conservation.
If you visit Horsburgh Atoll, stay at a community-registered guesthouse rather than resort accommodation. Ask your host about the HATA cooperative and how guesthouse revenue supports local projects. The guesthouses themselves are small — often four to eight rooms — so book ahead.
Guesthouse tourism and cultural exchange
Since 2009, when the government first permitted guesthouse tourism on inhabited islands, the sector has grown to 638 registered guesthouses. These are small, locally owned operations that offer a fundamentally different experience from resort stays. Guests eat local food, sleep in village settings, and arrange excursions through local boat operators rather than resort dive centers.
Cultural exchange programs have emerged alongside guesthouse growth. On Thulusdhoo, the Maldives Cultural School runs workshops on traditional arts and crafts. On Maafushi, the Fish and Curry Cooking Experience teaches visitors to prepare local dishes with fresh ingredients. On Guraidhoo, Island Community Volunteering involves tourists in local development projects. These programs are small-scale and seasonal, but they represent a genuine shift from the honeymoon-and-resort model that has dominated Maldivian tourism for decades.
A common misconception is that any guesthouse stay automatically benefits the local community. While guesthouses are locally owned, the supply chain for food, building materials, and souvenirs may still involve imported goods. The economic multiplier effect is real but limited — ask your guesthouse where they source their food and whether they employ local guides.
The transition from honeymoon-focused travel to backpacker and island-hopping itineraries has expanded the clientele. Secret Paradise Maldives, a tour operator, ensures all team members are Maldivian and offers training to advance career opportunities. Resorts also run sustainability programs — beach cleans, coral restoration — driven by ecosystem dependence and consumer demand. Some resorts partner with local islands to offer day trips, though the economic benefit to the community remains limited compared to direct guesthouse stays.
Atoll thinking and the creative economy
In July 2024, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade organized a Creative Economy and Tourism Workshop Series with technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank, UNDP, and the British Council. The workshops introduced “atoll thinking” — an interconnected approach that uses the Maldivian term atholhu for natural island-reef-lagoon systems. The idea is to link talent, resources, and opportunities across the country rather than treating each island in isolation.
The Maldives 2024–2028 Creative Economy Strategic Action Plan guides this transformation. It aims to connect creative entrepreneurs — designers, digital artists, curators focused on heritage revival — with tourism supply chains. It also targets digital payment systems, expanded access to finance, and collaboration hubs. The shift in traveler behavior, toward authentic and meaningful experiences, aligns with this approach.
But the creative economy framework faces the same structural barriers as guesthouse tourism. Local entrepreneurs compete against established global corporations with 50-year head starts in marketing, infrastructure, and investment. The plan acknowledges this and proposes linking communities into existing tourist networks as a first step.
Resort vs community: A comparison
| Attribute | Resort Tourism | Community Tourism |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | Mostly foreign-controlled | Locally owned (guesthouses, cooperatives) |
| Economic leakage | 55–80% leaves local economy | Higher retention, but supply chain still imports goods |
| Employment | Limited managerial roles for locals; expatriate staff common | Local guides, cooks, artisans, guesthouse staff |
| Cultural exposure | Minimal — curated resort experiences | Direct — village life, home cooking, craft workshops |
| Environmental impact | High per-guest footprint; some sustainability programs | Lower per-guest footprint; community-led conservation |
| Visitor type | Honeymooners, luxury travelers, package tourists | Backpackers, island-hoppers, culturally curious travelers |
| Regulatory barriers | Low — established lease system (up to 100 years) | High — local councils lack formal authority; limited marketing reach |
It is tempting to frame community tourism as inherently good and resort tourism as inherently bad. The reality is more complicated. Resorts employ thousands of Maldivians, pay significant taxes (up to 70% of government revenue), and run conservation programs. Community tourism, meanwhile, faces real challenges around quality control, waste management, and scalability. The question is not which model is better in the abstract, but how to make the overall system more equitable.
- Community tourism in the Maldives is structurally small (19% of bed capacity) but growing, with 638 registered guesthouses on inhabited islands.
- The HATA cooperative in Horsburgh Atoll is the most advanced model of community-owned tourism governance, but it remains a single-atoll experiment.
- Tourism leakage — 55% to over 80% — means most revenue still bypasses local communities, even when guesthouses exist.
- Cultural exchange programs and the creative economy framework offer pathways to deeper local benefit, but require sustained investment and policy support.
Questions readers ask about community tourism in the Maldives
Can I visit the Maldives without staying at a resort?
Yes. You can stay at guesthouses on inhabited islands. The guesthouse sector has grown to 638 registered properties since 2009, concentrated on islands like Maafushi, Thulusdhoo, and the Horsburgh Atoll islands. These are small, locally owned, and bookable through platforms like Booking.com or direct contact with the guesthouse.
Does staying at a guesthouse really help the local economy?
More than a resort stay, but not as much as you might expect. Guesthouses are locally owned, so the profit stays on the island. But many goods — food, building materials, toiletries — are still imported, which limits the economic multiplier. Ask your guesthouse where they source food and whether they hire local guides. That spending matters.
Is community tourism in the Maldives sustainable?
It depends on the metric. Socially, guesthouse tourism distributes income more equitably than resorts. Environmentally, guesthouses have a lower per-guest footprint. But waste management is a pressing concern across all inhabited islands, and rising sea levels project that 1,190 islands could be submerged by 2100. No form of tourism in the Maldives is fully sustainable without addressing these structural threats.
What is the HATA cooperative, and why does it matter?
The Horsburgh Atoll Tourism Alliance is a community-owned destination management organization in Baa Atoll. It operates as a cooperative where members vote and receive dividends. HATA formed during the pandemic when the government allowed resorts to reopen but delayed guesthouses. It now works with USAID and Solimar International on a Sustainable Tourism Destination Management Plan. It matters because it is the only multi-island cooperative model of its kind in the Maldives.
Do Maldivians actually want more community tourism?
Opinion varies. Traditional island councils were initially skeptical about guesthouse tourism, concerned about resource use and cultural conflicts. HATA facilitated forums to address those concerns. The UNDP’s “atoll thinking” framework assumes local desire for greater participation, but the research also notes that local entrepreneurs face high barriers to entry. The appetite exists; the infrastructure and policy support are still catching up.
What community tourism reveals about the Maldives
The Maldives built its global reputation on the promise of isolation — a resort on its own island, a luxury product that deliberately separates guests from the country where they are staying. Community tourism does the opposite. It asks visitors to engage with the places and people that resorts are designed to keep at a distance. The fact that community tourism exists at all, after decades of resort dominance, tells you something about the limits of that model. The fact that it remains small tells you something about the structural forces that keep it that way. The future of Maldivian tourism will be shaped by whether those forces shift — and whether travelers choose to support the shift. For a deeper look at how Maldivian communities sustain their traditions alongside tourism, read our guide to real Maldivian life beyond the resorts.
Sources and further reading
Destination Center. “Pioneering Community-Owned Tourism in the Maldives.” 2024. 🔗
Much Better Adventures. “Community Tourism, Adventure, and Leakage in the Maldives.” 2023. 🔗
United Nations Development Programme. “Island Thinking, Atoll Thinking: Charting a Creative Future for the Maldives.” 2024. 🔗
Global Sustainable Tourism Council. “Pioneering Community-Owned Tourism in the Maldives.” 2024. 🔗
Related reading on IslandHopperGuides
Maldivian Cuisine Uncovered: A Culinary Journey Through History and Tradition — what you’ll eat at a guesthouse table and the history behind each dish.
The Art of Lacquerwork: A Maldivian Tradition Passed Through Generations — a craft you can see in village workshops on community tourism islands.
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