The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has urged all the tourism and trade associations in the country to stop promoting Maldives amid a row over anti-India remarks made by some Maldivian ministers.

The chairman of the trade body, Subhash Goyal, issued a statement for all the tourism associations as a “patriotic Indian in the larger national interest”.

“This is in spite of the fact that Indians are one of the biggest sources of foreign exchange and creation of jobs in the Maldives. Please divert all such enquiries to Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands which are even better than Maldives in many ways, and other destinations which can be promoted in the Indian Ocean area are Srilanka, Mauritius, Bali, and Phuket,” the ICC chairman wrote in a statement.

Goyal also appealed to all the Indian carriers operating in Maldives to suspend their operations and think of operating in Lakshadweep islands under the Udaan Scheme.

"I appeal to members of FHRAI and the Hotel Association of India to seriously look at investing in Lakshadweep islands as in the future it will give you better returns on your investment than Maldives. I have already asked STIC Travels to stop selling Maldives,” the statement read.