Ameen appointed Maldives’ tourism minister after Thoriq’s resignation
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has appointed Mohamed Ameen as Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, following the resignation of Thoriq Ibrahim from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment on Tuesday. The appointment comes as part of a cabinet reshuffle announced after 10 ministers stepped down earlier in the day.
Ameen had previously been serving as Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation in Muizzu’s administration. With the latest change, he now assumes responsibility for the tourism portfolio, one of the country’s most important economic sectors. Official records show Ameen has been in cabinet since Muizzu took office in November 2023.
His appointment makes him the third tourism minister under President Muizzu. Ibrahim Faisal was first appointed tourism minister when the administration took office in November 2023. In February 2025, the government merged the tourism ministry with the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy, creating the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, with Thoriq Ibrahim appointed to lead the new ministry. Thoriq resigned from that post on Tuesday.
The latest change returns the tourism brief to a minister who had until now been overseeing transport and aviation. Ameen’s new designation as Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation also places two closely linked sectors under a single portfolio, at a time when air connectivity continues to play a central role in the performance of the Maldives’ tourism industry. The move is likely to draw attention across the sector, given the close operational link between international access, domestic transfers and resort demand. This is an inference based on the portfolio structure and the Maldives’ dependence on aviation for tourism access.
Ameen is not new to the aviation sector. Before entering cabinet, he served in senior roles at Island Aviation Services, and has remained closely associated with the transport and civil aviation brief since the start of the current administration.
