The Economic Impact Of Cultural Tourism In The Maldives

Background of the Study

Background of the study:

Over the last few decades, the world economy has been experiencing swiftly escalating socio-economic conversions. Through the means of globalisation, along with the encroachment of know-how, evolving prospects in the new markets as led to a world of swiftly fluctuating business environments (Nesbit & Nast, 2017). However, Dubai, Bowen & Altima, (2015) indicate astonishing scale, rapid change and difficulties are features that alter rising cities into a spaces of occasions and risks.

Among many researchers, tourism industry has become a key ingredient of growth. Irrespective of the size and of the nation, tourism industry provides much amount of boost to the economy (Song 2016). Considering the case of the small states like Maldives, it can be seen that, it is crucial for small island destinations to find new ways to create jobs and incomes to comprehend their economic needs and quality of life. Besides, it is recognised that tourism signifies one of the world’s chief industry contributing to the largest source of foreign exchange (Horner & Swarbrooke, 2016). Similarly, small island destinations like Maldives are on the belvedere to grow and are in the search for new ways to enhance their competitiveness which has led to the emergence of new forms of tourism (Hall, 2016). considering the state’s tourism during the last few decade, it can be seen that the  past tourism has been based on the accommodation and hospitality sector until recently people understood the need for exploration of new areas of tourism that were yet to be tapped is highly required. Hence, this research led to the search of a type of tourism which had benefits to overrule its costs which are identified as cultural tourism.

Likewise, the incentive behind this research is based on the tourism status of the Maldives and how the available resources and natural environment can be used in the development of the booming tourism sector. During the late 90s tourism in the Maldives began and since then it has been growing at a rapid rate that has attract the attention of rigorous research in this field. Maldivian archipelago, located 500 km from southern tips of both India and Sri Lanka is the main source of attraction to tourists (Amira, 2016). According to the master plan by Maldives Ministry of Tourism and Civil aviation, it is recognised that although the Maldives has a rich cultural heritage and history, cultural tourism is not promoted as a form of tourism development (Bowen, Zubair & Altinay 2017). Under this scenario, this research is aimed to find out the perspective of the citizen of the nation regarding the importance of the cultural tourism from the different perspective (Leon & Arana, 2016). In addition to this, this report will trace the different factors that has affected the growth of the same and next to this it will try to trace how the tourism industry has become one of the important section of the society for its growth.

Considering the perspective of the Maldives regarding the cultural tourism, it can be seen that the country has failed to consider the cultural tourism as one of the source of economic development (Mowforth & Munt, 2015). Recent report from the Maldives Ministry of Tourism and Civil aviation highlights the same phenomenon because, it has been observed that the tourism industry over the year in this country has increased at a smaller rate and the investment in the industry has been comparatively low (Shakeela & Becken, 2015). This in addition to this highlights that the state has failed to demonstrate how cultural tourism can enhance the employment status, growth rate of the economy and standard of living of the state (Sharpley & Telfer, 2015). Under this scenario, it has become highly important to analyse the importance of the cultural tourism and trace how it can really help the small country like Maldives in its endeavour. Moreover, it is important to demonstrate the inherent features of the cultural tourism to the state for the overall growth of the state.

Research Problems Identified

Research question is as follows:

The economic impact of cultural tourism in the Maldives

Aim of the study is to investigate and explore the following parameters:

To evaluate the impact and emergence of cultural tourism

To define the magnitude to which cultural tourism adds to the progression of the economic eminence

To recognize the supply and demand of cultural tourism

Objective of the study is as follows:

Through this study the researcher is aimed to address the typologies of the cultural tourism, which was developed by the McKercher during 2002, in order to determine the impact of the cultural tourism from the perspective of the economy in the Maldives (Lenao, 2014). In addition to this, the study examines the requirement for the diversification of the contribution of Maldives to the urbane and the developing demands of tourism. Besides this, the research is aimed to contest the sustainability of the tourism industry in the nation through the data collected from the primary data collection as well as the data collected from the secondary sources. moving forward, it can be stated that the research will judge why the cultural tourism need to be taken as an important source of the tourism that need proper exposure from the fellow citizen of the nation to aid the economy. The research will portray that cultural tourism to the Maldives will not only help it to become a substitute source of the income for the peoples of the nation, in addition to this, it can be utilised as the means of the economic gain to the community. Lastly the research intends to recognize the accelerating factors of cultural tourism as a crucial sponsor to the tourism industry through assessing the rewards and drawbacks.

Following research is aimed to trace the economic impact of cultural tourism in the Maldives and for this purpose the research will consider the descriptive research technique, where it will utilise both the qualitative and quantitative data in order to achieve the desired objective of this research (Best & Kahn, 2016). Next to the introduction section, there will be literature review section, which will discuss the previous literary resources regarding the cultural tourism. In addition to this, it will conduct the analysis of industry size and will judge the growth rate of the same over the year. Situational analysis of the industry will be performed to assess the present situation of the industry and then it will try to propose plan for the identified problem. Next to the literature review section, the research will perform methodology and study of the research work, where it will enhance the details regarding the data collection. In this section, it will portray how the primary data has been collected and next to this, data validity will be performed to ensure that collected data is reliable. The research method used is for this research is mixed method of qualitative and quantitative research as the study mostly emphases on the feature of cultural tourism and its influence on the economy of the state. This research contains a comparatively large sample of 40 respondents. Hence, data is collected from 20 staff who are accountable for handling the travelling business and knowledgeable in the field of travel and tours business. While functioning closely and dealing unswervingly with the tourists they have acquired 25 years of involvement, excellence and experience in the tourism culture and development of the Maldives.

Research Questions

Next to this, there will be fourth chapter, where the researcher will portray the results and discussion of its findings. In this section researcher will try to analyse how the perspective of the sample differs or infer with the literary ideas mentioned in the second chapter. Lastly, there will be the fifth chapter that will be dedicated for the conclusion and recommendations. In this section, the researcher will portray the conclusion of the research and depict the action plan for the future developed in this regard. Next to this, limitation of the research will be discussed and it will provide recommendation to enhance the finding in the future researches.

Coverage of the economic implication of the tourism is one of the growing sector that has been attracting the mind of the researchers since decades. Field of the economic implication of the tourism is one of the sectors that has been influential since the last two decades. Economic implication through the tourism is not a delineated matter and various different scenarios overlap with each other consequently that makes it a multidisciplinary issue, which is beyond the scope of a single research to interpret. Considering the various literatures from the previous researches, it can be seen that the researchers has segregated the economic implication of the tourism into two broad different categories, which are developing and developed nation’s economic impact through the tourism and the second one is the development of the small islands nation’s economic implication through the tourism. This research is aimed to discuss the case of the Maldives, where the cultural tourism is on rise during the last one decade due to its rich cultural heritage along with the outstanding places to visit. Through this literature review section, the researcher will provided detailed overview of the cultural tourism industry of the Maldives and showcase the economic impact of the same on the country’s economy. Through the analysis of the industry size, growth rate, situational analysis of the industry, this section will try to interpret the findings of the previous researches and portray how the economy of the Maldives has performed utilising this new channel of growth.

Tourism is one of the growing sector around the world that provides considerable amount of share to the world Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its importance to the nation’s economy has been growing at galloping rate. Considering the case of the developed nations, it can be seen that the tourism is an important part of the society that provides considerable amount of employment and job opportunities to the allied industries (Baum, 2015). Coming to the developing nations and to the small island states, it can be seen that tourism plays a more crucial role because it aids to generation of higher amount of jobs as well as GDP to the economy (Leigh & Blakely, 2016). For instance. If the case of the Maldives can be considered, then it can be seen that tourism produced more than 76.6% out of total GDP of the nation and it ranked first among the small island countries according to the tourism industry growth data (Shakeela & Weaver, 2016). In addition to this, it has also been found that the Maldives tourism industry has produced substantial amount of jobs that has aided the economy to move forward with a higher interest rate. Considering these details it can clearly be entailed that the importance of the tourism industry is not to be underestimated. According to the researchers, tourism industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing industry in the world. However, when it comes to the economic significance of the same, then there is very little has been researched till now. Conventional economic measures like size of the industry, growth rate and share to the GDP has not been fully successful to describe the level of association between the economic growth and the growth of the tourism industry (Shakeela & Weaver, 2018). According to the researcher, conventional economic tools like market size, economic growth, employment status shift only describes the binary attributes of a problem under research, however, when it comes to the multifaceted problems like tourism, where large number of subsidiary industry is present, makes the economic study of the same hard. Various researches has ignored the non-marketed attributes as well as the environmental indicators from their studies regarding the economic implication of the tourism on the respective country that has caused lack of studies that clearly identify and contest the economic association of the cultural tourism of the Maldives (Pérez-Rodríguez, Ledesma-Rodríguez & Santana-Gallego, 2015). Maldives being one of the largest island state that has strong and well established heritage attracts a lot of tourists round the world throughout the year.

Aim of the Study

Tourism is one of the largest and growing sector in the world that has been evolving at a rapid rate in the case of the developing and the small island countries. When it comes to the Maldives, then the tourism has large scale of importance to the economic value and culture of the state. According to the research of the researcher, it can be seen that the small island developing states (SIDS) are those states, which has been facing largest growth rate among many other states (Cowburn et al., 2018). Tourism industry in the Maldives is known for their world class resorts, and best in the class service with the help of the well decorated customer service executives. In addition to this, it is also true that the Maldives possess wide amount of cultural importance, which is another major reason for the recent rise in the tourism industry of the state. The place is located to the south west of the Sri Lanka that comprise more than 1190 islands, which stretch over the area of 90,000 square kilometres (Hosterman & Smith, 2015). Climate in this place remains within the range of 30 degree Celsius throughout the year that provides favourable condition for the growth of the tourism in the nation (Buckley, Guitart & Shakeela, 2017). Outstanding places like underwater coral gardens specially curated for attracting the tourists who want to enjoy the underwater life, white sandy beaches around the state and the turquoise blue lagoons entice the tourists to visit this place again and again (Ali, Cullen & Toland, 2015). Maldives has a long cost line, which is as long as 664 km and along with the unmatchable natural beauty attracts lot of tourists to this place (Hassan & Basit, 2015).

The list of the unique things in the state not ends here, because this research has not mentioned yet about the luxury resorts of the state, which is another important attraction for the tourists owing to their outstanding service. The state has 97 luxury resorts as of now and it is accounted for generation of 70% of jobs in the country that makes it one of the important source of employment in the country (Lee, Hampton & Jeyacheya, 2015). Considering the data available, it can be seen that the Maldives’s tourism industry has been growing at a rapid rate, however the rate of growth is not sustainable. For instance, it can be seen that, during the 2008 to 2014, there has been strong recessionary period in the US and EU nations, that has lowered the demand of the tourism industry substantially (Mowforth & Munt, 2015). It has caused a 4% drop in the growth of the Maldives tourism industry growth (Bac, Bugnar & Mester, 2015) Visitors from the US and EU are the major portion of the visitors who visit Maldives, and they are accounted for the highest amount of spending during their visit to the country. Thus a small change in the demand from these states can provide a huge blow to the country’s economy.

Objectives of the Research

The numerous challenges faced by the island nation has never deterred the tourism sector. It has continued to thrive and the tourism prospects in the island nation looks presently looks stronger than ever. With the arrival of approximately 1,286,135 tourists from across the globe, the industry size has grown by 1.8% in 2016 recording a 4.5% growth in the annual in flock of tourists (straitstimes.com, 2018). The industry size is huge and it forms the backbone of the economic prosperity of the island nation. Tourism industry accounts for 33% of the entire Maldivian economy and is the most prominent industry of the island nation. Thus it can be seen, how important tourism is as an industry to Maldives. The government of the island nation of Maldives, thus is very much interested in the success of the tourism sector as it is the largest source of revenue and employment for the island nation. A detailed analysis of the inbound tourists from the various countries into the island nation has been provided below. These inbound international tourist form the backbone of the huge tourism industry of the island of Maldives.

The major flock of tourist come from the Euro zone and Europe accounts for the largest in flock of tourists in the island nation. It can be seen from the diagram mentioned above, that throughout the eight year period, it is evident that Europe had the largest share of tourist in the Maldivian economy, with an average of 48.5, which is more than the average of some of the other countries (Becken, 2014). Among, the Asia & the Pacific region, China, India and Russia are some of the most prominent visitors in the island nation. The scenic beauty of the place has been very successful in pulling tourists from all over the globe. This is one of the most important reasons for the success of the tourism industry of Maldives in recent times (Mowforth & Munt, 2015). This proves, why Tourism is the largest source of employment for the people of Maldives. However, on the supply side, little has been done to ensure a consistent supply of tourists. As a result of the huge demand of tourism for the island nation, the supply of the operational capacity of the country has also increased, but not at the same pace as that of the demand for the tourists. Some of the statistics of the operational capacity of the country have been provided below:

Figure : Tourism industry overview of Maldives

Source: (Maldives Tourism, 2016)

It can be seen here that the at least 339 guest houses are still not in functional position and the same case has been seen in the case of the safari vessels (Alkema, 2017). Being the largest contributor of the GDP, it is a shame, that the government has not yet fully utilised the potential of the tourism industry in the island nation. Nevertheless, the government has been incessantly trying to improve on this frontier of increasing and improving the operational capacity in this case.

Structure of the Report

Tourism industry of Canada has been growing at rapid speed since the last decade and one of the main driver that has been enhancing the performance of the industry is its cultural values. In roder to understand the growth of the tourism industry various literary researches has showcased various performance indicators (Jiang & Ritchie, 2017). This research will utilise the same and portray the growth rate of the Maldives tourism industry over the time.

From the above figure it can be seen that the contribution of the travel and tourism industry of the Maldives has been rising at rapid rate since the last one decade. Though the number of tourists visited Maldives during 2008 fell marginally from the 2007 due to the global recession, it keep up peace right from the next year (Sharpley, 2018). During the year 2014, the share of the travel and tourism industry to the GDP of the Maldives has increased substantially and according to the forecast, by the next one decade share of the tourism industry is all set to be enhanced (Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2017 Maldives, 2018).

From the figure 4, it can be seen that the employment contribution by the travel and tourism industry will rise substantially over the years. Job creation through the tourism industry is on rise and the nation is expected to face high amount of growth in the job creation by the next one decade. Right side panel of the figure 4 showcase that though the whole economy employment level will fall over the year, however, total number of jobs created through the Maldives tourism industry will be higher than as of now (Buckley et al., 2017). It highlights the future of the Maldives economy where it will have higher amount of job through the growth of the tourism industry of the state and additionally it can be entailed that tit will face better economic growth too (Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2017 Maldives, 2018).

Considering the overall performance of the Maldives’ tourism industry, it can be seen that the state has high growth prospect. Considering the figure 5, it can be seen that during 2017, there has been rise in the direct contribution to GDP of the state has increased by 7.3% compared to the 2016 and the number of visitor exports has considerably increased by 7.3% during 2017 (Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2017 Maldives, 2018). These figures showcase the astonishing growth of the Maldives’ economy. According to the forecast it can be seen that during 2027 though the growth rate of all the tourism industry variable will fall, however, overall value of the respective macroeconomic variables will rise substantially. According to the prediction as shown in the diagram, by 2027, contribution to the GDP will rise by to 2283.4 million USD, which is, which will be almost double of the present share. Thus it can be seen that the future of the Maldives tourism industry is bright.

Tourism is the main and the largest industry in the island country of Maldives. The essence and the importance of the tourism sector cannot be downplayed, when seen in the context of employment generation and GDP contribution. The impact of travel and tourism industry in the overall economic growth of the various economies around the world can be felt, in terms of direct and as well as indirect contribution towards the nation’s GDP.  When seen from the point of view of direct contribution, is reflected in the internal spending of the tourist in the visiting economy. The indirect contribution in provided in the form of various ancillary industries which support the main hospitality industries like hotels, resorts, safaris etc. Some of the prominent examples of this is in the form of travel insurance, events or parking tickets, car hiring services, airport parking services, tour guides, luggage sale etc. (straitstimes.com, 2018).  These small industries form the backbone of the main industries of hospitality. When the travel and tourism industry is being scrutinised, then the role of these ancillary industries also comes into the forefront. All the nations across the world depend on these industries for the growth of their tourism industries. Thus, in the case of the comparison of the travel and tourism industry of Maldives and other countries, role of ancillary industries also important.

Literature Review

According to the reports of the World Travel and Tourism Council, the growth of Maldives as one of the most favoured tourism destination has been pretty well. When compared to other Asian countries like India, the contribution of travel and tourism towards the GDP, Maldives ranks 94^Th in list, whereas India ranks in 9^th position, in the case of Sri Lanka  which stands at 6^th position, much better than India, Maldives has maintained the same position (Bowen et al., 2017). When compared with the other fellow countries, which are very closely located in the vicinity of Maldives, like Malaysia, Indonesia, Maldives have performed poorly but in case of other countries like Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives have performed reasonably well. When compared with the latter group of countries, Maldives, have performed reasonable well as the ranks of those three teams are more than 100 (Rudi et al., 2018). The travel and tourism industry comparative data of Maldives along with some of the prominent countries have been presented below:

Country	2016	2017
Maldives	3.7%	4.5%
India	8.80%	10.18%
Indonesia	8.1%	10.08%
Malaysia	3.1%	5.2%
Singapore	7.7%	6.7%

Table 1: Growth of the tourism industry

Source: (Created by Author)

On careful analysis of the table given above, it can be concluded that the tourism sector of Maldives has been performing at a substantially low level when compared to the countries of Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Singapore (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2018). Although, when the internal economy is brought into the limelight, then it can be seen that the tourism sector of Maldives has performed exceptionally well, when compared with other industries of the island nation. Whereas, when the all-round growth of the tourism sector on a competitive basis is concerned, then it could be seen that Maldives has performed at a normal level, when compared to the nations mentioned above, although they have performed at a high level in both these years.

Tourism industry of the Maldives has been growing at a rapid speed during the last decade. With the introduction of the cultural tourism in the state, it has been seen that the Maldives has become one of the prominent state that share large amount of GDP from this industry (Hosier & Pforr, 2016). Presently, with the help of the outstanding resorts and the marine beauty of the nature, Maldives has been enticing the visiting tourists and it has aided the economy to have growth.

Figure : Travel and tourism direct contribution to GDP wise rank of Maldives

Source: (Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2017 Maldives, 2018)

From the figure above, it can be seen that the Maldives’s travel and tourism industry shares a large amount to the GDP of the state and during the 2017 it has faced a growth rate of 7.3% (Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2017 Maldives, 2018). The growth rate is considerably high than the India’s growth rate, which is considered as one of the best destination of the tourists. According to the direct contribution to GDP data wise, travel and tourism industry of the Maldives ranks 33^rd that showcase that the state is one of the best destination of to the tourists and according to the predictions, it is all set to rise further.

Research Methodology

Figure: Travel and tourism total contribution to GDP wise rank of Maldives

Source: (Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2017 Maldives, 2018)

From the figure above, it can be seen that the travel and tourism industry of the Maldives ranks 38^th according to the total contribution to the GDP of the state and it has grew by 6.4% during the 2017 compared to the previous year (Hassani et al., 2015). As it can be seen that the market of the state in the tourism industry has been rising at rapid rate and it will become one of the top destination for the tourism.

One of the benefit enjoyed by the Maldives with the higher amount of growth in the tourism industry is the fall in the unemployment. This industry has aided the Maldives economy to have 5.5% growth in the employment during the 2017 that highlights the importance of the same to the country’s economy (May, 2015). Though the employment wise rank of the state is 39^th, however it is oneself the top ranking nations that has good amount of employment growth rate during the last year (Hosie & Pforr, 2016).

According to the total contribution to employment through the travel and tourism of the state it can be found that the state ranks 45^th and it is one of the highest ranking state out of the south Asian states. During the 2017, total contribution to employment of the Maldives has been enhance by 4.5% compared to the previous year that makes it one of the best state to have solid growth in its traveling and tourism industry (Dominguez et al., 2017). In addition to this, it makes the whole industry competitive in front of the other destination of the tourists around the world. Through the cost effective mechanism and effective promotion campaigns, the state has maintained well exposure of their tourism industry to the world.

From the above discussion it can clearly be seen that the state has grew largely by the growth of its tourism industry. Through there is ample scope of growing further, however, various things like constrains in human capital and fund allocation has been hampering the interest of the industry largely. Though the tourism industry of the state is expected to rise double, yet the employment level of the state through the industry is substantial. Due to the fact that most of the employees in the organisation is part time and lacks skill, most of the Maldives hotels employs foreign nationals as the employees to deal with the international customers. Under this scenario, it can be state the industry of the state has high potential, however, lack of the incentive and marginal rise in the employment is not enough to make it the phoenix for the state that can provide boom to the economy for future growth at sustainability (Buckley et al., 2017). Literary reviews suggests it need to revamp the organisational structure and the norm so as to make the industry far more utilisable by the state in order to enhance the macroeconomic parameters of the state.

Data Analysis and Results

In order to complete this study in proper way while fulfilling the objective of the research it will portray how the primary data has been collected and next to this, data validity will be performed to ensure that collected data is reliable. The research method used is for this research is mixed method of qualitative and quantitative research as the study mostly emphases on the feature of cultural tourism and its influence on the economy of the state. This research contains a comparatively large sample of 40 respondents. Hence, data is collected from 20 staff who are accountable for handling the travelling business and knowledgeable in the field of travel and tours business. While functioning closely and dealing unswervingly with the tourists they have acquired 25 years of involvement, excellence and experience in the tourism culture and development of the Maldives.

From the above discussion, it has been found that most of the literatures regarding the tourism industry in Maldives is centred towards the industrial performance. Most of the researches has measured how well the tourism industry of the state has performed over the years and it has predicted the growth path of the same door the coming days. However, most of the researches has failed to identify how the economy of the Maldives has been affected by the growth of the tourism industry. Additionally there has been considerable lag in the literatures regarding the empirical evidence of the performance of the economy in presence of the rapid growth in the Maldives’ economy that has been fetching a large amount of GDP from its tourism industry. Through the analysis of the past literary evidences it can be found that the economy of the Maldives has been attracting a lot of tourists all over the country and it has enhanced the business environment in the state, however, the literatures has failed to trace the perspective of the individuals of the economy regarding the growth of the tourism industry and its association with the country’s economy (Suzana et al., 2015). Under this scenario this research is aimed to discuss the economic impact of cultural tourism in the Maldives through the empirical evidence that will be generated through surveying respondents.  

From the above discussion it has been found that there has been substantial amount of growth in the tourism industry of the Maldives and most of it’s comes due to the present enhancement in the cultural tourism in the state. Though the country is largely dependable upon the it’s primary sector for the growth of its economy, however, tourism over the years has played a crucial role to make the situation diverse. With the growth of the tourism in the state, it has been found that the country has faced large amount of growth during the recent days and according to the estimation, share of the tourism industry to the country’s GDP is all set to become doubled by the next decade. The literary evidences highlights that, with the rise in the country’s tourism industry, there has been rise in the allied industries too. For instance, literary evidences has highlighted that the state has enhanced amount of hospitality centres that provide explicit service at reasonable price making it one of the best destination for the holidays. Through the above analysis it has been found that, there has been substantial amount of literary gap due to the fact that past researches has failed to assess the perspective of the individuals of the state regarding the economic association between the growth of the economy and the tourism industry. Under this scenario, this research is aimed to discuss the economic impact of cultural tourism in the Maldives through the empirical evidence that will be generated through surveying respondents.

Discussion and Conclusion

Research methodology is the idea that the researcher has decided to utilise in the overall study that helps to determine the flow of the research. From the term methodology researcher wants to mean various type of research method utilised by the analyst in the overall research process (Mackey & Gass, 2015). Considering the present investigation process depending upon the cultural tourism in the Maldives this research methodology and the study section will portray the methodical approach of the research. In this chapter the researcher will portray the research philosophy and the approach of the research. In the research design section the researcher will portray the design of the study and moving forward it will discuss the data collection methods and it will perform the data reliability test in order to analyse the reliability of the selected data. One of the main section of every research is portraying the research ethics, which enables the researcher to portray the ethical consideration of the research.

Research onion:

This is another crucial part of any research that explain the different layers of the investigation process.it will aid the researcher in the overall proceedings of the analysis. According to the research onion, the first layer of the research will provide application of the research philosophies and the next layer of the onion will provide light on the investigation process (Saunders et al., 2015). The third layer will portray the overall strategy of the research and the fourth layer will portray the choice of different kinds of research methods that the analyst utilise in the study operation. Time horizon of the fifth layer define the schedule of the research and overall proceeding of the study over the time. The final and the sixth process of developing the research will determine the application of the overall research and the strategies as well as the technology utilised in the research.

Research philosophy:

 The notion of the investigation philosophy is the understanding regarding the way through which perceived data can be gathered and utilised. The application of the data fetched through the survey is one of the most significant pars out of the overall study. The researcher with the aid of the fetched data constructs the overall structure in the research prices and post this investigation structure is being utilised. Understanding the research approach and research philosophy is one of the key parts for the overall research process. Axiology, Epistemology and Ontology and the three essential points in order to determine the overall research process (Best & Kahn, 2016). The key role of the research philosophy is the term that is being utilised to the requirement of the development of the information in the overall research process. There are four primary pillars of the research philosophies that include the notion of the realism, positivism, pragmatism and interprerivism. However, in various occasion it becomes crucial for the researchers to choose the best research philosophy among the four variety of the research philosophy so as to direct the research towards better result (Mertens, 2014). However, the researcher in this research has decided to choose the application of positivism philosophy of research so as to aid the overall investigation procedure of the cultural tourism industry of the Maldives. The researcher in this study has decided to utilise the application of the positivism research because it will describe the factual knowledge, which has been gained through the various kinds of observations. According to the positivism study, the researcher has limited to data collection and interpretation of data is also constrained through applying the different variety of objectivities approach and research findings, which are basically traceable and measureable in quantitative measure (DePoy & Gitling, 2015). Next to this, it is well known fact that the positivism has five different principles that allow the researcher to support the research process depending upon the positivism research philosophy. It depends on the different kinds of local findings and facts that the research should aim to explain and in addition it aids to predict the data too. The final point to choose the positivism is the value of science that need to be supported through the different variety of logic. Under this scenario choosing the positivism as the research philosophy is the ideal choice for this present study.

Research approach:

The use of the research approach will aid the use of proper research hypothesis throughout the study. There are variety of research hypothesis, which different researcher utilise to study the overall research process depending upon the different available theory. Through this particular study, the researcher has utilised the several relevant theories depending upon the cultural tourism industry of the Maldives (Wilson, 2014). There are various kinds of research approaches that different analyst utilised depending upon the application of the research process. Out of them key research method include inductive research approach and deductive approach of research and in addition to this there is adductive research approach (Collins, 2017). Nevertheless, in various occasion it becomes hard for the analyst to choose the ideal research method among the available alternatives of the research methods. In these particular research on the tourism industry of the Maldives, the researcher has preferred to untie the application of the deductive approach of investigation. With the aid of the deductive approach of the investigation approach, the researcher throughout the overall proceedings will be in a potential position, where he will be able to sustain research operation on the research aim utilising the different assumptions and the theory (Hughes & Sharrock, 2016). Utilisation of the deductive method of research by the analyst in the study of the economic impact of the cultural tourism depending upon the following assumptions. It is assumed that the collected data contributes and acts as a vital part of the overall research process, however, the data collection is utilised to assess the proposition and hypothesis that are connected to the existing theories (Cazeaux, 2017). Out of the overall deductive process, there are four key steps that the analyst performs to gain a prosper outcome for the selected research work. The four steps considers the application of the relevant theory determine the best hypothesis out of the different kind of the hypothesis to determine the final points in the rejection and acceptance of the literary evidences. It has made the selection of the deductive approach ideal for the research work, which can enhance the credibility and acceptance of the project work (Kratochwill, 2015).

Research design:

Developing an ideal research design is essential for the overall study. There are various applications towards the goods study design, however, the utilisation of the good research design will aid in the development process of an appropriate strategy for the research (Meyers et al., 2016). There are mainly four different type of research designs that different researcher utilise irrespective of the nature of the research assumes in the overall research. Sampling design, statistical design, operational design and observational design are some of the most utilised research design by the various researchers. Depending upon the objective of the research, the researcher of the present research has decided to select the statistical research design.

Data collection methods:

Data collection is one of the crucial section of the research work that aids the researcher to determine the level of perception regarding the research objective. Additionally it aids the researcher to determine how the future work can be done through the collected data (Marczyk et al., 2017). For the present research, the researcher has utilised the primary survey with the utilisation of unstructured survey. The data has been collected through the primary survey that has been conducted on the 40 randomly chosen people of the Maldives out of which 20 are related with the tourism industry for the last 25 years. From the survey, the researcher has utilised both the qualitative and quantitative data collection method for better understanding regarding the research objective and the actual perception of the sample population.

Data reliability:

The data has been collected through the primary survey that has been conducted on the 40 randomly chosen people of the Maldives out of which 20 are related with the tourism industry for the last 25 years. For the purpose of collecting data survey has been conducted through the unstructured questioner that has aided the researcher to collect essential data. Considering this, it can be stated that the collected data is reliable and additionally ethical consideration of the researcher has enhanced the reliability of the same by large extent.

Research ethics:

Ethical consideration of the research is one of the crucial part. Considering the present research it can be seen that the research has been done with the strict ethical guidance and there has been no such actions taken by the researcher, which could harm the confidentiality of the respondents. During the time of performing survey, sample population was kept in mind that the none of the respondents has gone through any kind of forced participation for the survey (Resnik, 2015). In addition to this it was also preferred that the respondent can withdraw his or her participation at any point of the time in order to ensure the convenience of the person. Apart from these, researcher has kept focus on the fact that survey conducted by the researcher for the sole purpose of academic activity and it has nothing to do with the promotion of the Maldives cultural tourism (St John et al., 2016). There has been no logo or any kind of symbol that can provide biasness to the data. Moreover, the analyst has ensured that the collected data is kept discreet and not available in the public domain that can make the bridging in the public figure of the respondent.

Chapter summary:

This section of the analysis has provided details regarding the research process and method. From this section it has also been found that the researcher has maintained the ethical consideration of the research and has performed the data collection without any biasness. Deductive approach and positivism has been chosen by the research for studying the economic development of the state with the help of the cultural tourism in the Maldives. In the next section, there will be data analysis that will provided light on the analysis of the availed data.

Results analysis and the discussion is the heart of any research activity that entails whether the objective of the research has really been achieved or not (Shakeela & Weaver, 2018). This present research is based on the analysis of the economic growth with the rise in the tourism industry of the state. For this purpose the researcher has utilised the statically method of data analysis and the result from the same has been mentioned below.

From the figure 11 it has been found that out of total sample 37 are employed and the same data shows that 28 people are connected with the hotel and tourism industry of the state. As it can be seen from the figure 12 other than these people large amount of the sample are employed with the governmental job and the rest are associated with the other sector of employment.

Row Labels	Count of Employment status of the respondent:
Employed	37
Unemployed	3
Grand Total	40

It can be seen that the hoteling and the tourism industry has been enjoying the major source of population and the second largest employment has been sourced from the government sector.

Row Labels	Count of Nature of employment:
Government employee	7
Hotel industry	11
Other	5
Tourism industry	17
Grand Total	40

Figure : Nature of employment

Source: (Created by Author)

This Figure highlights that the 12 people are strongly agreeing with the fact that there has been rise in income level due to the growth of the tourism industry of the state and 12 people are agreeing with the same proposition. On the other hand, out of same population 4 people are disagreeing with the fact and 2 out of the sample population are strongly disagreeing.

Row Labels	Count of There has been rise in your income level due to growth of the country’s tourism industry
Agree	12
Disagree	4
Neutral	10
Strongly agree	12
Strongly disagree	2
Grand Total	40

This highlights the fact that most of the people are agreeing with the fact that there has been rise in the economic growth through the rise in the cultural tourism of the state.

	Are you associated with the tourism industry of the country?	Do you think cultural tourism is important for the Maldives?	Do you think cultural tourism has impacted the nation’s eco3mic status?
Are you associated with the tourism industry of the country?	1
Do you think cultural tourism is important for the Maldives?	0.575743	1
Do you think cultural tourism has impacted the nation’s eco3mic status?	0.44881	0.620885	1

Table 1: Correlation between the growth of economy and growth in tourism industry

Source: (Created by Author)

From the table 1, it can be seen that there has been low level of association between the growth of the economy and the cultural tourism development of the state. This highlights that though the most of the sample population believes that there has been rise in the income due to the growth of the cultural tourism it has failed to entice the overall economic performance.

Do you think cultural tourism is important for the Maldives?
Mean	1.525
Standard Error	0.113156914
Median	1
Mode	1
Standard Deviation	0.715667162
Sample Variance	0.512179487
Kurtosis	-0.275376578
Scenes	1.012559829
Range	2
Minimum	1
Maximum	3
Sum	61
Count	40

Table 2: Importance of cultural tourism to Maldives people

Source: (Created by Author)

From the table 2, it can be seen that out of the total sample a population with mean 1.525 believes that cultural tourism is important for the Maldives. In addition to this half of the sample believe that there is substantial amount of influence on the economy through the development in the cultural tourism.

Do you think cultural tourism has impacted the nation’s economic status?
Mean	1.7
Standard Error	0.139596488
Median	1
Mode	1
Standard Deviation	0.882885711
Sample Variance	0.779487179
Kurtosis	-1.424683563
Scenes	0.644763043
Range	2
Minimum	1
Maximum	3
Sum	68
Count	40

Table 3: cultural tourism impacted on the nation’s economic status

Source: (Created by Author)

From the table 3, it can be seen that sample population with the 1.7 mean thinks that cultural tourism has impacted the nation’s economic status. Additionally, half of the population believes that here is association between the cultural tourism and the economic status of the status. Through there has been substantial amount of difference between the literary evidence and the perceived result, it can be seen that a substantial amount of population believes that there is no association between the source of the economic growth of the state and the cultural development notion.

There has been rise in your income level due to growth of the country’s tourism industry
Mean	2.3
Standard Error	0.183275049
Median	2
Mode	2
Standard Deviation	1.159133186
Sample Variance	1.343589744
Kurtosis	-0.321719258
Scenes	0.619739643
Range	4
Minimum	1
Maximum	5
Sum	92
Count	40

Table 4: Income level rise with growth of cultural tourism in Maldives

Source: (Created by Author)

Table 4 highlights that with the man of 2.3, sample population believes that there has been substantial rise in the income through the growth in the cultural tourism of the state. In addition to this, 25% of the sample population believes their income growth has been not been germinated through the development of the economy. This highlights the fact that, there has been less amount of association between the standard of living of the country with the rise in the cultural tourism growth.

From the analysis it has been found that the there is very little growth in the economic performance of the state with the enhancement in the tourism industry of the state. However, literary evidence showcase that there is high level of association between the economic growth of the Maldives and the growth of the cultural tourism. In this context it can be argued that the small sample can reflect different perspective regarding the economic growth of the state and the growth of the cultural tourism industry of the Maldives. Under this scenario it would be ideal to develop such programs that can provide inclusive growth to the economy rather the superficial GDP growth value. It will further enhance the overall outcome of the state and enable it to have better future. Additionally the government of the state need to have higher number of skill development program so as to enable the better growth prospect of the economy.

As the success strategy from the research it has been observed that the state has been suffering from the lack of human capital and the professionals for the tourism industry. Thus, it would be ideal for the government of the state to introduce vocational training centre or the institutions that can teach and provide exposure to the tourism industry to the population of the state. Though the tourism industry has been facing rapid boom in the present date, however, it would be ideal for the government to restrict the industry from exploitation of the environment so that the state can have sustainability of the industry in long run too (Shakeela & Weaver, 2016). There has been considerable amount of lack in the foreign exposure to the tourism industry of the state that has constrained the growth of the same. Government can take promotional strategies so that the economy can have higher number of tourists around the world to its tourist’s destination. For the purpose of the data collection from the tourists and enhance the performance of the tourism industry of the state through bridging the gap between the demand and supply, feedback form can be utilised (Howard, 2018). Though there are moderate number of good quality resorts are available in the state, however, they are insufficient in number to serve most of the tourists during the peak season. Thus, it would be highly recommended to enhance the number of the hotels in the area so that it can accommodate all the tourists and provide best in class service.

From the above discussion it has been found that the economy of state has grew to some extent with the enhancement of the cultural tourism of the state. Though there has been difference in the researched perspective of the economic growth through the cultural tourism growth and the literary evidences, it has been found that it was mainly sourced due to the small sample size. Almost half of the sample population believes that there is some association between the economic growth and the cultural tourism growth, whereas 1.67 portion of population out of 10 believes that growth of the economy is germinated through the growth of the cultural tourism. Additionally it has been found that the less amount of population believes that the growth of the economy has been germinated through the cultural tourism making the result insignificant.

Conclusion and future research:

This section of the report is meant to provide a concise overview of the findings of this research work. Through this chapter it will be explained how the research has been performed and in the same time it will portray the limitation of the study (Atherton, 2015). Moving forward, this section of the research will portray the conclusion, which will describe the findings of the research. Next to this, there will be action plan section, where the overview of the recommendation will be provide that will set path for the future researches. Consulting the limitation of the study the chapter summary will be provided.

Conclusions:

From the research work it has been found that the tourism industry of the Singapore is one of the main growth generator for the economy of the state. During the last decade, there has been rapid growth in the tourism industry, which has been germinated through the development of the cultural tourism in the state. In addition to this, from the literary review, it has been found that the economy of the state has gained a large amount of employment scope through the rise in the cultural tourism in the country. Moving forward as it has been found from the literature review section that the economy of the Maldives has substantial amount of growth in this service, agriculture and manufacturing sector, however, growth of the tourism industry has been becoming an important centre of the growth of the state. With the growth of the technological progress and the outstanding resorts in the Maldives has been enticing the tourists all around the world to the Maldives since decades? Additionally literary review section has portrayed that tourism industry in the Maldives is known for their world class resorts, and best in the class service with the help of the well decorated customer service executives. In addition to this, it is also true that the Maldives possess wide amount of cultural importance, which is another major reason for the recent rise in the tourism industry of the state. The place is located to the south west of the Sri Lanka that comprise more than 1190 islands, which stretch over the area of 90,000 square kilometres (Oysterman & Smith, 2015).

This research is associated with the cultural tourism in the Maldives and the economic growth of the state. Considering the large scale of the industry UT can be stated that the researcher has done his best for the better outcome of the result. However, there has been certain limitations in the research in terms of data collection method and the research process. The research is based on the small sample of 40 people that has provided contradictory result to the common literary evidence of the association between the economic growth and the growth of the cultural tourism of the state. Considering the vast amount of expenditure of the study it has limited the reach of the researcher to collect data from various place of the Maldives. Additionally it has been found that the researcher has certain limitation regarding the available time of the study.

From the above research it has been found that there is huge scope of the future research to study the level of association between the growth of the tourism industry and the economy of the state. From the above discussion it has been found that literary sources argue that the economy of the Maldives will become doubled with the help of the growth in the cultural tourism in the state by the end of the next one decade (Delprato, 2018). Additionally it has also been found from the research that the small number of sample showcase that the economic performance of the state has been influenced marginally with the help of the growth in the cultural tourism of the state, which contradicts the common literary evidence. Under this scenario, it has become essential and crucial point for the future researches that can aid the researcher to trace the reason for the different microeconomic perspective regarding the growth of the economy and the cultural tourism of the state.

Chapter summary:

From the above study in the section it can be found that there has high scope for the future research and additionally economy of the state has high potential to have better growth in future with the enhancement in its tourism industry.  Though there has been wide gap between the common literary evidence and the outcome from the survey, yet the above section highlights that it can be the ideal source of stimuli for the future study.

From the above discussion it has been seen that the Maldives has transformed itself as agricultural based economy to the tourism and service sector based state that has been cannon balling its growth with the utilisation of the themes like cultural tourism that has been producing employment as well as economic performance of the state too. According to the literary review it has been found that the state has good potential to have higher amount of growth sourced from the tourism industry. As it can be seen from the forecast, that the economy of the state is going to become doubled with the growth of the tourism industry of the state. However, it has also been seen that there are various drawbacks in the tourism industry of state that can provide substantial amount impediment to the growth path of the economy. Under this scenario it would be ideal to provided recommendations for the growth of the tourism industry so that it can keep itself with the forecast. Recommendations fort the tourism industry of the Maldives are as follows:

From the research it has been observed that the state has been suffering from the lack of human capital and the professionals for the tourism industry. Thus, it would be ideal for the government of the state to introduce vocational training centre or the institutions that can teach and provide exposure to the tourism industry to the population of the state.

Though the tourism industry has been facing rapid boom in the present date, however, it would be ideal for the government to restrict the industry from exploitation of the environment so that the state can have sustainability of the industry in long run too.

There has been considerable amount of lack in the foreign exposure to the tourism industry of the state that has constrained the growth of the same. Government can take promotional strategies so that the economy can have higher number of tourists around the world to its tourist’s destination.

According to the MMPRC it would be highly necessary for the tourism industry of the state to identify and test the information regarding the trend of the tourist visit and their preference urging their leisure time in the island in order to meet the demand in higher amount.

For the purpose of the data collection from the tourists and enhance the performance of the tourism industry of the state through bridging the gap between the demand and supply, feedback form can be utilised.

Though there are moderate number of good quality resorts are available in the state, however, they are insufficient in number to serve most of the tourists during the peak season. Thus, it would be highly recommended to enhance the number of the hotels in the area so that it can accommodate all the tourists and provide best in class service.

In order to ensure future forecast of the growth it would be ideal to for the government of the Maldives to leverage community development through the attraction and activities based approach so that both the visitors and the people associated with the tourism industry can have better incentive to be associated with it.

Providing international health insurance can entice the customer demand of the tourism industry of the Maldives. If the inbound tourists can be provided with the standard medical care, then it should additionally aid the healthcare industry of the country as well as enhance the demand of the tourism industry too.

A little government spending can boost the industrial structure of the state. Thus it would be ideal for the government of the state to provide support to the industry so as to enhance its capability in terms of performance and human resources.

There should be basic guideline for the tourism industry so as to ensure its performance and maintain the environment exploitation limit. It will provide better future growth prospect to the state and ensure that the local population of the state can have better standard of living.

Through these research work, the above mentioned recommendations can be provided to the tourism industry of the state so as to ensure its growth and sustainability. Though these recommendations are limited to the environmental factors as well as they are meant to enhance the supply and demand gap mitigation capability of the state, various other factor specific recommendations can be provided, which will provide better perspective of the future growth of the tourism industry of the country.

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