The winner of Star TV show “Voice of India 2007″, singing competition held by India’s Star Plus Channel, Ishmeet Singh died in Maldives on Tuesday evening.

Officials from the Chaaya Dhonveli Beach Resort where he was staying said that Ishmeeth had drowned between 5:15pm and 5:20pm while in the swimming pool of the resort.

“He went into the swimming pool with a couple of his friends this afternoon,” Marlon Robert, the Assistant Manager of the Resort, said.”None of them knew how to swim so he was using the baby (shallow) swimming pool. Since he didn’t know how to swim we had advised him not to use the big pool. Somehow or other he ended up in the big pool. When he couldn’t get out of it his friends apparently went looking for help.”

According to the Maldives Police Service, Ishmeeth’s body had been immediately brought to the ADK Hospital in Male’ after the incident. The doctor who had attended to him said that the cause of death seemed to be by drowning. Police said that their investigations were now proceeding.

Arrangements are underway to transport Ishmeeth’s body back to India, sources say.

The 19-year-old singer had arrived in Maldives Tuesday morning to take part in a show being held in Male’, the capital city, by his contracting music company. The show was planned to be held during this weekend.

Supporters of the singer voted heavily for him from Punjab during the finals of the contest. Even though Harshit led the votes tally in most regions of the country, the final count went in Ishmeet’s favour due to heavy voting from Punjab.

Ishmeet had won the ‘Voice of India’ singing contest held on November 26, 2007, pipping his closest rival Harshit from Uttar Pradesh in a keen contest. He was given the winner’s trophy by melody queen Lata Mangeshkar.

COLOMBO (AFP) - The Indian Ocean island of the Maldives plans to open 11 new islands to foreign investors to develop upmarket tourist resorts, an official said Wednesday.

The new resorts, some to be built on reclaimed land, will add to the 33 resorts islands currently under development, the island’s Planning Ministry executive director Mohamed Shareef told AFP by telephone.

“The government wants to build resorts on the outskirts of some of the highly populated islands, to bring tourism development closer to the local communities,” Shareef said.

Potential investors also win the right to 100 hectares of coral reef, from which they can reclaim up to 15 hectares for additional resort land.

Shareef said the concept aimed to create jobs for local communities, allowing them to commute daily to work. Expatriate workers from Asia and Europe currently take up over half of the jobs on each resort.

Tenders for the new “resort reef” islands are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, Shareef said.

In 2006, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s government leased 35 islands to foreign and local investors for resort development. Only two of those are currently in operation.

The government is also building 10 new regional airports to compliment the booming resort development and allow locals to commute quickly between the chain of 1,192 islands.

About 700 kilometres (435 miles) southwest of Sri Lanka, Maldives is a magnet for upmarket tourists, where guests pay up to 14,500 dollars a night to scuba dive and sleep in wooden cabins built over turquoise blue waters.

Tourism accounts for over a third of Maldives’ economy of just under a billion dollars.

It has enabled the nation of 369,000 people, mainly Sunni Muslims, to emerge as the richest in South Asia, with a per capita income of 3,400 dollars.

A Blue Panorama flight made history as it became the first international flight to land at Gan Airport in Addu - the southernmost atoll of the Maldives. Gan Airport has long been a busy regional airport in the country, but this is the first time it has played host to an international flight.

Seventy one tourists travelling from Milan to Addu’s newly opened resort island of Herathera received a heart-warming welcome from the locals at Gan International Airport. The landing of this Blue Panorama flight in Addu marks the inauguration of Gan airport as the country’s second international airport. Thus far Malé International Airport at Hulhule Island has been the only international airport in the country.

The Maldives has been nominated in five categories in the 14th Annual World Travel Awards to be held in the Turks and Caicos Islands on the 12th December 2007. The five categories that Maldives got nominated are World’s Leading Destination, World’s Leading Dive Destination, World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination, World’s Leading Romantic Destination and World’s Leading Travel Television Commercial. In addition Maldives Tourism Promotion Board has been nominated in the World’s Leading Tourist and Convention Bureau category.

Furthermore, some of the Maldives tourism industry players have been nominated in important categories. In this regard Inner Maldives has been nominated in the World’s Leading Travel Agency category, Baros Maldives got nominated in World’s Leading Villa and World’s Leading Beach Resort category, Hilton Maldives has been nominated in World’s Leading Resort category and Huvafenfushi has been nominated in World’s Leading Spa Resort category.

Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as the “Travel industry’s equivalent to the Oscars”, the World Travel Awards are the most comprehensive and most prestigious awards program in the global travel industry. The World Travel Awards were established in 1993 to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in the world’s travel and tourism industry. With thousands of votes cast by travel professionals from 167,000 travel agencies in over 160 countries across the globe, winning a World Travel Award has become one of the highest accolades a travel product can achieve.

The 2007 World Travel Awards world winners will be announced and presented at the gala ceremony which will take place in the islands of Turks & Caicos on the 12th December 2007. Candidates nomination for world winners categories are based on the results from the four regional ceremonies which took place in Abu Dhabi, New York, NewcastleGateshead and Bangalore in 2007.

MTPB won the Indian Oceans Leading Tourist and Visitor Bureau Award in Bangalore ceremony. Maldives also won the Indian Ocean’s Leading Destinations Award and Indian Ocean’s Leading Dive Destination Award in the same ceremony. During this ceremony Maldives Tourism industry won awards in many categories.

With the unveiling of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts new Banyan Tree Maldives Madivaru property, the resort has decided to offer great savings as a promotion for the event.

The promotion is valid from 1st July to October 31st 2007 and the resort offers:

1. 50% savings on accommodation
2. 25% savings on seaplane transfers
3. in-villa couple spa treatment
4. complimentary meals and selected beverages
5. scheduled marine excursions on the Banyan Madi.

Located in southwest North Ari Atoll, the property offers the first Tented Pool Villa concept in the Maldives. The castaway island is easily accessible by 30-minute seaplane journey or exclusive overnight sail on the Banyan Velaa. The resort features six Tented Pool Villas priced from US$ 3900++ per night.

Each Tented Pool Villa comprises of three individual tents, distinctively equipped to function as living, sleeping, and bath areas. The spacious bath tent features a pair of spa beds for enjoying in-villa treatments that include signature Banyan Tree Spa massages and facials. Interior furnishings exude a warm and tropical ambience, replete with timber flooring, rattan and teak furniture, handcrafted wooden and canvas accents, and luxurious ceiling canopies.

Special bookings are also possible for guests who wish to have the island all to themselves, including hosting exclusive functions for two to 18 persons.

Banyan Tree offers an intimate retreat experience featuring its own signature blend of romance and Asian sensuality. The philosophy behind the hotels, resorts, spas and galleries is based on providing a place for rejuvenation of the body, mind and soul - a Sanctuary for the Senses.

Banyan Tree resorts are found in Phuket, Thailand (1994), Maldives Vabbinfaru (1995), Bintan, Indonesia (1995), Bangkok, Thailand (2002), Seychelles (2002), Ringha, China (2005), Lijiang, China (2006) and Bahrain (2007). Flagship Banyan Tree Phuket was the first to introduce a tropical garden spa concept.