The FTMP‟s most significant thrust was the call for institutional strengthening. It emphasised the need for creation of financial institutions and enabling legal framework for attracting foreign investments. Subsequently, the Department of Tourism and Foreign Investment was allocated further funding and the Department became a Ministry in 1988 with wider mandates. Although a financial institution to specifically assist tourism development has not emerged, existing banks‟ support to the industry has been strengthened. The legal framework to encourage foreign investment has been implemented as well. However, these areas need further development.
The extent and degree to which some of the suggestions made by the FTMP in regard to, especially, the aspects of physical infrastructure control, and centralisation of marketing efforts10 have met with less enthusiasm, with the private sector stakeholders organising amongst themselves to cater independently and/or jointly to the growing needs of servicing the industry. For example, the FTMP‟s attempt to create a centralised public transportation system within the atolls did not succeed as planned. Instead, pockets of successful private operations mushroomed, transporting goods and people between various atolls of the Maldives, which have been operating successfully albeit informally for years.
Overall, the FTMP‟s recommendation that “Government will need a higher degree of control (over) the behaviour of individual resorts” 11 has contributed to increased industry concern over the bureaucratisation of processes and procedures. Today the avenues of consultation between the Government and the private sector are more open, however, although they need further strengthening. As a result of the FTMP‟s call for greater control, until very recently the Government awarded resorts by due consideration to concepts and required resort builders to strictly adhere to prior approved concepts. In an attempt to give greater freedom for resort builders to be innovate, such restrictions have been removed.