Some companies start with a business plan. Ours started on a small island in Noonu Atoll, with a boy who grew up watching the sea and later walked into the tourism industry with nothing but USD 900 in savings and a lot of determination.
That boy was Ahmed Siyam Mohamed. Today, he’s the Chairman and Managing Director of the Sun Siyam Group. Back in 1990, he was simply someone who believed the Maldives deserved to be shared with the world properly, with warmth, honesty, and real care for the people on both ends of every booking.
We think that’s still the best way to describe us, 35 years later.
We learned the business from the ground up, literally
Before he built Sun Travels, Ahmed worked as a receptionist, a billing clerk, a storekeeper, a reservations executive, a marketing manager, every job in the industry that taught him what guests and partners actually need, not just what looks good on paper.
That’s not a detail we mention for the sake of a good origin story. It’s the reason Sun Travels has never felt like a distant corporate machine. We have always tried to stay close to the people we work with, because our founder started out being one of them.
Where we are now
Three and a half decades on, Sun Travels has grown into one of the Maldives’ most established travel companies, with a global network of partners who’ve trusted us with their guests’ journeys for years, sometimes decades.
We have grown but tried hard not to lose the thing that got us here: actually, listening to what our partners need, and treating every enquiry like it matters — because it does.
Something new, built with you in mind
Last November, we turned 35. To mark it, we didn’t just throw a party (though we did that too) — we rebuilt how we work with you from the ground up.
Our new digital platform, powered by a next-generation Juniper booking engine, was built to make working with us feel easier and faster, with none of the friction that usually comes with the words “booking system.” That means:
- Real-time availability, so you’re never quoting against outdated numbers
- Instant confirmations, because your clients shouldn’t have to wait on us
- A streamlined extranet, so finding what you need doesn’t take ten clicks
- Smarter contracting tools and seamless supplier integrations, working quietly in the background so you don’t have to think about them
As our CEO Deepak Booneady put it at the launch: this is a new era built on clarity, innovation, and purpose, but it’s still standing on the same foundation laid 35 years ago.
And we’re just getting started
This next chapter takes us beyond the Maldives too, into Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Seychelles, Bali, Thailand, Zanzibar, and destinations across Africa. The Maldives will always be home. But we are excited to bring the same care, the same honesty, and the same “we’ll actually sort this out for you” attitude to more places, for the partners who have stuck with us this long.
To everyone who’s part of this story
Whether you have been working with us since the early days, or you are just getting to know us, thank you for being here. We built this platform, and honestly, this whole company, around the idea that travel works best when the people behind it genuinely care.
We do. We always have. And we are looking forward to showing you.