Business
St. Regis, Constance Halaveli, Sun Siyam Iru Fushi, Anantara named Maldives best resorts
The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort, Constance Halaveli, The Sun Siyam Iru Fushi and resorts run by Anantara have won prestigious titles at the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony for being the leading resorts in the Maldives.
The prestigious Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony took place at the five-star Sun Aqua Vilu Reef resort on Saturday, with hospitality leaders from across the region in attendance to discover who amongst them has been voted the pinnacle of the travel industry.
At the ceremony, The Sun Siyam Iru Fushi was named the Maldives’ Leading Resort, while The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort won the Maldives’ Leading Luxury Island Resort award and Constance Halaveli the Maldives’ Leading Luxury Resort award. Velaa Private Island was named the Maldives’ Leading Luxury Villa Resort.

Evgenia Boyankova, Group Director of Business Development at The Sun Siyam Iru Fushi Maldives, receives the Maldives’ Leading Resort award at the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony held at the Sun Aqua Vilu Reef resort in Maldives on Saturday. PHOTO/ WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS

General Manager at Velaa Private Island Michal Smejc (L-2) receives the Maldives’ Leading Luxury Villa Resort award at the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony held at the Sun Aqua Vilu Reef resort in Maldives on Saturday. PHOTO/ WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS
Resorts run in the Maldives under the Anantara shined at the Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony, with Anantara Kihavah Maldives winning the Maldives’ Leading Villa Resort award, Anantara Dhigu Resort Maldives winning the Maldives’ Leading Water Villa Resort award and Naladhu Maldives winning the Maldives’ Leading Boutique Resort award.
Lily Beach Resort and Spa was named the Maldives’ Leading All-Inclusive Resort, while Kanuhura Maldives won Maldives’ Leading Family Resort award and aaaVeee Nature’s Paradise the Maldives’ Leading Green Resort award.

Sarah Forster, Sales Manager at Lily Beach Resort and Spa, receives the Maldives’ Leading All-Inclusive Resort award at the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony held at the Sun Aqua Vilu Reef resort in Maldives on Saturday. PHOTO/ WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS

Officials from aaaVeee Nature’s Paradise receive the Maldives’ Leading Green Resort award at the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony held at the Sun Aqua Vilu Reef resort in Maldives on Saturday. PHOTO/ WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS

Officials from Kanuhura Maldives receive the Maldives’ Leading Family Resort award at the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony held at the Sun Aqua Vilu Reef resort in Maldives on Saturday. PHOTO/ WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS
The Royal Island Suite at JA Manafaru won the award for the Maldives’ Leading Hotel Suite, and the Sunset Water Villa at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island won the Maldives’ Leading Luxury Hotel Villa award.

Zainab Shihab, Marketing and Communications Coordinator Conrad Maldives Rangali Island resort, receives the Maldives’ Leading Luxury Hotel Villa award at the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony held at the Sun Aqua Vilu Reef resort in Maldives on Saturday. PHOTO/ WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS

Food and Beverage Manager Kyra Bommelje (L-2) and General Manager William Harley-Fleming (R-2) at JA Manafaru receive the Maldives’ Leading Hotel Suite award at the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony held at the Sun Aqua Vilu Reef resort in Maldives on Saturday. PHOTO/ WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS
Meanwhile, Get Into Maldives Travels was named the Maldives’ Leading Luxury Tour Operator, while the award for the Maldives’ Leading Travel Agency went to Vermillion International Maldives.

Mohamed Mauroof, Managing Director at Get Into Maldives Travels, receives the Maldives’ Leading Luxury Tour Operator award at the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony held at the Sun Aqua Vilu Reef resort in Maldives on Saturday. PHOTO/ WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS

Ahmed Musthaeen, General Manager at Vermillion International, receives the Maldives’ Leading Travel Agency award at the World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony held at the Sun Aqua Vilu Reef resort in Maldives on Saturday. PHOTO/ WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS
The Maldives also won several prestigious destination titles at the Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony.
World Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. Today, the World Travel Awards brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire.
Each year, World Travel Awards covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognise and celebrate individual and collective success within each key geographical region.
World Travel Awards Gala Ceremonies are widely regarded as the best networking opportunities in the travel industry, attended by government and industry leaders, luminaries and international print and broadcast media.
Business
Feydhoo Hall opens at dusitD2 Feydhoo Maldives as new event space
Dusit International, one of Thailand’s leading hotel and property development companies, has announced the opening of Feydhoo Hall, a landmark event venue at dusitD2 Feydhoo Maldives, redefining the possibilities for meetings, celebrations, and destination events in the Maldives.
Designed to bring scale, flexibility, and creativity to island gatherings, Feydhoo Hall represents a bold step forward in positioning the Maldives as a dynamic destination for conferences, weddings, and large-scale social occasions.
Feydhoo Hall offers a versatile event complex designed to accommodate a wide range of gatherings, from corporate meetings and conferences to weddings and social celebrations.

At its core is the 390 sqm Main Hall, capable of hosting:
- Up to 300 guests in theatre-style setup
- Up to 240 guests for dining and banquet-style events
- Up to 200 guests for cocktail-style receptions
- Up to 144 guests in cluster-round configuration
Enhancing the flexibility of the venue are additional dedicated spaces, including:
- A 110 sqm Veranda Terrace, ideal for welcome receptions, breakout sessions, and pre-event gatherings, accommodating up to 100 guests for cocktail-style events.
- A spacious 1,000 sqm Lawn Space, perfect for large-scale outdoor celebrations, destination weddings, and open-air events, accommodating up to 400 guests for cocktail receptions and up to 350 guests for dining setups.
- The 55 sqm Ekugai Meeting Room, designed for smaller meetings and executive sessions, accommodating up to 30 guests in theatre or dining setup and 24 guests in cluster-round format.
Together, these integrated spaces create a seamless indoor-outdoor event experience, allowing planners to design dynamic and personalised event journeys.
True to the dusitD2 brand’s lifestyle-driven philosophy, Feydhoo Hall introduces a fresh approach to meetings and events — where productivity meets creativity in an inspiring island setting.
The venue offers flexible meeting formats designed to suit different event needs, including:
- Half-Day Meeting Package (4 hours) — ideal for focused sessions, executive meetings, and creative workshops.
- Full-Day Meeting Package (8 hours) — designed for immersive conferences, extended workshops, and large-scale corporate gatherings.
These thoughtfully structured packages provide planners with the flexibility to create impactful and seamless experiences, whether hosting intimate strategy sessions or dynamic full-day events.

Located just seven minutes by speedboat from Velana International Airport, dusitD2 Feydhoo Maldives combines accessibility with vibrant lifestyle energy, offering event planners and guests a rare balance between convenience and tropical escape.
With the introduction of Feydhoo Hall, the resort strengthens its position as a versatile destination — not only for leisure travellers but also for international conferences, creative retreats, luxury weddings, and large-scale social celebrations seeking something refreshingly different in the Maldives.
Business
BBM expands retail presence with new Hulhumalé outlet
Bestbuy Maldives (BBM) opened a new wholesale store in Hulhumalé Phase 2 on Monday.
The outlet is located on the ground floor of Lot 20286, Nirolhu Magu, and is intended to improve access to BBM’s imported goods for residents of Hulhumalé Phase 2 and for businesses operating in the area.
According to the company, the opening forms part of its plan to expand services closer to customers in line with population growth in Hulhumalé.
With the opening of the new store, BBM’s full range of imported and distributed products will be available at the Hulhumalé Phase 2 location. These include consumer goods from international brands such as Lifebuoy, Vaseline and Unilever.
The store will also stock wholesale food products from brands including Daily, Cavin’s and Redman.
BBM has supplied goods to resorts, hotels and retail outlets across the Maldives for several years.
Action
Ataraxis Grand & Spa hosts integrated work-and-dive corporate retreat in Fuvahmulah
Ataraxis Grand & Spa recently hosted a week-long, closed corporate offsite in Fuvahmulah for a US-based artificial intelligence company, highlighting the island’s growing suitability for integrated work-and-experience retreats. The retreat brought a group of 36 international professionals to the property, which was reserved exclusively for the programme.
Designed as a private company offsite, the stay combined structured daily work sessions with guided diving and beginner-friendly surf experiences, creating a balanced format that blended focused collaboration with physical reset.

A notable component of the programme was dive training and certification. During the retreat, 17 participants completed their Open Water certification, while a further six undertook the Advanced Open Water course, with training and dives scheduled alongside work sessions as part of the integrated itinerary.
Throughout the week, participants worked on-site using dedicated shared spaces supported by reliable high-speed internet, allowing meetings, informal collaboration and scheduled activities to take place within a single, uninterrupted environment. This setup enabled teams to move seamlessly between work periods and organised ocean activities without leaving the property.

Fuvahmulah’s natural and operational advantages formed a key part of the retreat’s appeal. As one of the Maldives’ largest inhabited islands, it offers immediate access to pelagic dive sites, internationally recognised shark diving and surf breaks suitable for instruction, alongside the infrastructure required to support extended group stays.

The offsite reflects a growing preference among technology and knowledge-sector teams for small-scale retreats that prioritise concentrated work environments and team cohesion over traditional conference formats. Such programmes typically involve longer stays and higher per-capita spend, aligning with sustainable, quality-driven tourism models.
The retreat also demonstrates how locally operated properties such as Ataraxis Grand & Spa are supporting this shift by delivering unified environments where accommodation, workspaces, connectivity and curated experiences operate as a single programme rather than separate services.

As organisations continue to explore alternative formats for strategy sessions, team resets and creative offsites, Ataraxis Grand & Spa’s experience positions Fuvahmulah as an increasingly viable destination for integrated corporate retreats.
Ataraxis Grand & Spa offers work-and-dive retreat programmes in Fuvahmulah that combine accommodation, dedicated workspaces, high-speed connectivity and organised diving and surfing.

Further information on retreat formats and dive-inclusive stays is available via the Ataraxis Grand & Spa website.
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