Social media posts by Maldivian officials may cost the country millions in tourism revenue, as calls by Indian travelers to boycott the island nation intensify.
“We are seeing a 40% drop in bookings over the last two days,” Ankit Chaturvedi, vice president and global head of marketing at the India-based travel software company Rategain, said Tuesday.
“Most people book on weekends, and therefore the drop seems more significant because ideally [bookings] should have gone up,” he told CNBC Travel.
Travel bookings to the Maldives tumbled following a diplomatic row that erupted last week after a series of posts appeared on X, formerly known as Twitter, on India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s account.
The posts showed him snorkeling, sitting by the water and meeting people in Lakshadweep, which some viewed as a veiled attempt to siphon visitors away from the island nation.
Amid reports that thousands of Indian travelers have canceled trips to the Maldives, one prominent Indian travel…
