Speaker of Parliament and former President Mohamed Nasheed has said that you can't be bringing up a dictatorship and then ask tourists to come visit us and see how beautiful our country is.

President Nasheed made the statement while speaking during the ceremony held at Farukolhfushi on Wednesday morning, to launch IMTM 2019.

He added that with the governance of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, a signal was given to visitors that it was safe for them to come to the Maldives once again.

"In my mind, [increase arrivals] is because of governance and democracy. You can't be bringing up a dictatorship and asking visitors to come visit us and see the natural beauty," President Nasheed said during the event.

He added that we needed to create a better environment in order for tourists to visit us. Explaining this, he noted that no one would want to come here in difficult conditions.

He added that an 18 per cent increase has been recorded in tourist arrivals in comparison to the same quarter last year, largely driven by the change in democracy and maintenance of a good government.