India-Maldives row: EaseMyTrip CEO defends suspension of flight bookings, says ‘earn money from Chinese tourists’

India-Maldives row: EaseMyTrip CEO Nishant Pitti on Monday defended the company's decision to suspend all flight bookings to the Maldives saying the turbulence started after President Mohamed Muizzu requested the removal of Indian military personnel from the island nation by March 15, 2024.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Pitti claimed some users accused his company of instigating the 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," he wrote. 

The EaseMyTrip CEO also said the new Maldivian government has been ‘clearly’ pro-China, and it's only fair that they earn money from Chinese tourists rather than Indians now.

He said it was risky to let go of sizeable revenue along with alienating a chunk of the user base when the travel company decided to suspend all flight bookings to Maldives. 

“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,” Pitti stated. 

“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 added. 

A high-level core group of officials from India and Maldives Sunday initiated official talks on the withdrawal of Indian military personnel stationed in the Island nation, amid Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu asking India to withdraw its troops from the archipelago by March 15.

The new Maldivian administration had established that there are 77 Indian military personnel in the Maldives. Male is also reviewing more than 100 bilateral agreements with New Delhi.

There were 24 Indian military personnel to manage the first helicopter, 25 Indians to manage the Dornier aircraft, 26 personnel to manage the second helicopter, and two more for maintenance and engineering.