Business

Lucky no more? Australia’s golden economy faces long road to virus recovery

Published

6 years ago

June 29, 2020

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Coronavirus has done to Australia what even the global financial crisis couldn’t: abruptly end a record growth run and help trigger a deep recession from which the country will take time to recover.

While Australia has had great success so far in heading off the pandemic, with just over 100 deaths, the cure of shutting out the rest of the world means massive hits to three key growth drivers – tourism, education and immigration.

Fiona Gulin was 18 when the last recession hit Australia in the early 1990s. Back then, she managed to keep a part-time job at a music publication, before moving on to full-time work and a lucrative career in the entertainment industry.

This time, she hasn’t been so lucky.

“I have been hit hard in this recession,” said Gulin, who was laid off in April as the marketing director of the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, prompting her to ditch her rented house in the city and move back to her home in Melbourne.

Gulin is among the hundreds of thousands who have lost their livelihoods overnight to the COVID-19 pandemic as Australia suffers its first recession in 30 years and its unemployment rate hits a 19-year high of 7.1%.

Even though Australia’s economy was among the first to reopen after lockdowns worldwide and earlier than the government expected, it contracted 0.3% in the first quarter and a new wave of coronavirus cases could put a recovery at risk.

Women have been particularly hard hit.

The unemployment rate for females looking for full-time work surged to 8.3% in May from 5.4% in February before coronavirus-driven shutdowns kicked in. That compares with 7% for men from 4.8% in February.

“Australia is known as the lucky country but I am not very lucky at the moment,” Gulin, who is receiving government welfare payments, told Reuters.

“I have been talking to a few people about some opportunities but nothing has come up yet.”

GRAPHIC: Australia sees surge in unemployed women looking for full-time work.

Vulnerable services

During the unprecedented run of growth, Australia transformed into an open, services-driven economy, feeding China’s rise with its mineral and commodity wealth and shedding much of its manufacturing capability.

The services sector accounts for almost two-thirds of Australia’s A$2 trillion ($1.4 trillion) annual economic output – but is now particularly vulnerable to the closure of national borders and social distancing measures to tame coronavirus.

“The tourism-dependent economies are the ones we worry about the most,” said Citi’s global chief economist, Catherine Mann.

Mann sees a V-shaped rebound for manufacturing generally but for the services or consumer discretionary sector, “it is absolutely an L-shaped recovery,” she said, meaning it could take a while for growth to fully recover.

“What was lost in the early part of this year will never be recovered from the standpoint of revenues for a company.”

Virus shadow

Policymakers, too, are worried about the long road back to economic health.

GRAPHIC: Australia consumer confidence sinks, jobless rate surges.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has pledged to keep its benchmark cash rate at a record low 0.25% until there is progress in achieving its employment and inflation goals.

“We’re going to have low interest rates for a long period of time,” central bank Governor Philip Lowe said last week, adding that there would be “a shadow from the virus for quite a few years.”

“People will be more risk averse, they won’t want to borrow. In Australia, we’re going to have lower population dynamics,” Lowe said, referring to the idea that fewer foreigners entering the country would lead to lower consumer demand and a tighter labour market.

Puja Basnet, an international student from Nepal, is reconsidering her options in Australia after losing her part-time job as a waitress.

“I was at home for two months without work and I have almost run out of my savings. As a non-Australian I don’t even have access to Centrelink,” she said, referring to government welfare payments.

For Basnet, the future is even more challenging as more people are now jostling for each job.

An L-shaped recovery also means the unemployment rate will stay higher for longer.

“I am really worried about the future. I have been applying for 30-40 jobs a week but there has been zero responses.”

Reporting and photo: Reuters

Business

Feydhoo Hall opens at dusitD2 Feydhoo Maldives as new event space

Published

5 days ago

February 16, 2026

m@ldives

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

Published

6 days ago

February 16, 2026

m@ldives

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

Published

3 weeks ago

January 29, 2026

m@ldives

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.