India-Maldives Spat: EaseMyTrip Halts Bookings, MakeMyTrip Launches New Campaign

08.01.2024 - 18:02 / skift.com / Peden Doma Bhutia / Prashant Pitti / Narendra Modi

Indian online travel agency EaseMyTrip announced on Monday that it has suspended all flight bookings to Maldives in what its Co-Founder and CEO, Prashant Pitti, deemed was in “solidarity with the nation.”

Co-founder Prashant Pitti, wrote on LinkedIn, “Nation First Business Later. EaseMyTrip.com is letting go of 290,000 tickets that get annually booked for Maldives from India. Plus, we have made 5 beautiful packages live for Lakshadweep.”

On Monday, MakeMyTrip also announced the launch of a “Beaches of India” campaign.

A post shared by MakeMyTrip (@makemytrip)

All of Sunday #BoycottMaldives had been trending in Indian social media following a diplomatic dispute between the two countries. 

There had also been social media reports of cancellations of over 8000 hotel bookings and more than 2500 flight tickets by Indians to Maldives. When Skift spoke to a few travel companies on Sunday night, no cancellations were reported. However, by Monday morning some reports of cancellations trickled in.

“Two couples, who were scheduled to visit Maldives, have now asked me to find some other place for their holiday. I hope in the coming weeks or days we don’t see more such reactions. What Maldives did was irresponsible and not in good taste,” said Mahendra Vakharia, managing director of Ahmedabad-based Pathfinders Holidays.

Online travel agency Yatra.com and low-cost carrier Indigo told Skift that there have been no cancellations of bookings so far.

In a letter that Skift has access to, Subhash Goyal, chairman of the aviation and tourism committee of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, appealed to all tourism trade associations to stop promoting Maldives and also asked Indian carriers to suspend operations to the archipelago.

Speaking to Skift, Goyal said, “India helped resurrect Maldives’ tourism economy during Covid and even post that, but such remarks against our Prime Minister are totally uncalled for. We at STIC Travels (Goyal’s travel company) have stopped selling Maldives with immediate effect.”

Indians have accused Maldivian politicians of making disparaging remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggered by a social media controversy that emerged following Modi’s visit to the Lakshadweep islands.

Last week, Modi shared scenic pictures from his visit to the Indian archipelago of Lakshadweep on a social media platform X. In his post, the Prime Minister wrote, “For those who wish to embrace the adventurer in them, Lakshadweep has to be on your list.”

MakeMyTrip reported a 3400% increase in on-platform searches for Lakshadweep following Modi’s visit.

Over the weekend, social media tweets portrayed Modi’s Lakshadweep visit as a suggestion for Indian tourists to consider alternative domestic destinations