EaseMyTrip quietly resumes Maldives flight bookings within few months of “Nation First, Business Later” stance

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Travel company EaseMyTrip has quietly resumed flight bookings from Indian cities to Maldives within months of banning all flight bookings to the island nation on January 8, 2024. EaseMyTrip was the first travel company to join the ‘social media war' when three ministers of Maldives made disparaging remarks on India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to Lakshadweep on January 2, 2024, where the Prime Minister posted few photographs on social media highlighting the beauty of Lakshadweep.

Anyone travelling to Maldives can now book their flights on the EaseMyTrip platform from any Indian city. The “indefinite ban” that was imposed earlier in January seems to be withdrawn. However, note that EaseMyTrip hasn't made any official announcement on the same.

Maldives faced a strong backlash from India, especially on social media, due to the unwarranted comments made by three of their ministers. Many Indians responded to the insults by dropping Maldives from their travel plans altogether while EaseMyTrip took a step further and banned all flight bookings to Maldives on its platform.

With the ‘anti-Maldives' sentiment dying down among Indian citizens of late, EaseMyTrip quietly, without making any official announcements, restarted flight bookings to Maldives. In January 2024, when the travel company went ahead with the sudden ban, it made a lot of noise on social media. EaseMyTrip even sent a message over WhatsApp to its users explaining its “Nation First, Business Later” stance, as to why it's banning flight booking to Maldives.

Despite Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) apologising to EaseMyTrip CEO Nishant Pitti in an open letter, back in January, Pitti did not reconsider the ban and said, “Starting Jan 8th, we have indefinitely suspended all travel bookings to Maldives. For us, our nation takes precedence over profit…We are immensely proud of India's stunning beaches." The company even introduced “NATIONFIRST” and “BHARATFIRST”