5. Tourism impacts on the authentic culture of this place and the indigenous group

I think the tourism impacts on the authentic culture is only to a small extent, this is because the Maldives government is trying their best to protect their culture, tourists can only make short guided trip to the local villages and must return to their resort. They need to have a valid reason and a special permit if they want to stay longer or to travel to atolls outside the tourist zone. By building all the resorts, the government has separated the local residents and the tourists, this also helps to prevent social conflicts. The government will preserve the historical and cultural heritage and maintain the traditional knowledge and products for the tourists.

However, because of the tourist inflow, there might be a exposure to undesirable problems like child labour. The locals might be unhappy over the local beach, water resources and transportations, and the tourism for Maldives only concentrated in a few regions, so these regions will be developed faster than the other regions, this will cause the shift in population and traditional occupations. Some of the heritage might be removed to build ‘artificial’ tourism attractions.