EaseMyTrip CEO defends Maldives boycott amid allegations of ‘instigating’ standoff
Travel company CEO says Maldivian government always wanted “Indians out” and the company has only fulfilled “what majority Maldivian asked for”
The CEO of EaseMyTrip has defended his company’s decision to boycott flight bookings to Maldives in the wake of allegations that the travel aggregator “instigated” the standoff between the two countries.
In a long post on X, company Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nishant Pitti, said that the Maldivian government was always against entertaining Indian tourists and the travel aggregator by cancelling trips to the island nation has only facilitated “what majority Maldivian asked for”.
“Read some tweets, saying we instigated India-Maldives Standoff. Here is a brief history: Nov 2023, President of Maldives won election on plank of "India Out" campaign. They wanted India & its tourist OUT, since last few years. Being 2nd largest tourism provider to Maldives, we merely fecilitated what majority Maldivan asked for,” Pitti posted on X.
Read some tweets, saying we instigated India-Maldives Standoff
— Nishant Pitti (@nishantpitti) January 15, 2024
Here is a brief history:
Nov 2023, President of Maldives won election on plank of "India Out" campaign. They wanted India & its tourist OUT, since last few years. Being 2nd largest tourism provider to Maldives, we…
Referring to Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s call to China to send more tourists amid travel boycott by Indian travellers, Pitti said the government of Maldives has “been clearly pro-China” and “it's only fair that they earn money from Chinese tourist rather than Indians now.”
Pitti said while it was a “risky” decision to cancel flight bookings to Maldives, his company has received overwhelming response for the same with its app download seeing a 280 per cent rise in the last week itself.
“When we took this decision, it was risky to let go of sizeable revenue and alienating a chunk of userbase. But we are thankful to 95% people of India, who are supporting us, our app download increased by 280% last week. Remaining 5% folks seem aggravated, as they are seeing it politically, and probably it's not matching with their political ideology. Perhaps, we would have done the same, no matter which govt was ruling in India, as it just made sense to uphold the dignity of our country,” he said in the post.
India-Maldives relations nosedived after three Maldivian ministers posted derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media following the latter’s visit to the Lakshwadweep islands. Irate Indians, offended by the comments, cancelled their trip to the Maldives, while celebrities condemned the Maldivian ministers’ comments on social media. EaseMyTrip also cancelled flight bookings to the island nation.
As tensions escalated between the two nations, Maldives President Muizzu asked India to withdraw its troops stationed in Maldivian waters in the Indian Ocean by March 15.
