The government has sought the parliament’s stance on its plans to re-open the country’s borders for tourism, primarily about the ‘Safe Tourism Guideline’ drafted by the Tourism Ministry.
Speaking in today’s parliament sitting, speaker of the Parliament and former President Mohamed Nasheed said that Tourism Minister Ali Waheed has formally sent a letter to the parliament’s secretariat and that the letter is in relation to the draft guideline titled ‘Maldives Safe Tourism Guideline’.
The letter reiterated that reopening the country for tourism is of utmost importance and that the Tourism Ministry and industry stakeholders shared this sentiment.
The letter also noted that the safe tourism guideline have been drafted based on international standards and requested the parliament to send its amendments by the 25th of this month.
Speaker of the Parliament Nasheed said the guideline would be sent to the parliament’s committee on the economy for evaluation and requested the committee to begin the work today.
Maldives Safe Tourism Guideline states that tourists must take a PCR Covid-19 test upon arrival and also must present a negative PCR Covid-19 test dated a maximum 7 days prior to landing in the Maldives or a positive antibody test report taken maximum two weeks prior to landing in the Maldives. It said these documents must be produced at the designated airport upon arrival.
The guideline also highlights that only resorts issued the Safe Tourism License fee can host tourists when the country re-opens. While a set of standards have been defined for such resorts the guideline mentions that a licensing fee of USD 50,000 is applicable for the issuance of this Safe Tourism License.
The document also states that country’s tourism industry could welcome arrivals by Private jets and superyachts as early as the 1st of June while arrivals by chartered and commercial flights are expected on the 1st of July.
The guideline also foresees that these restrictive measures on the country’s main source of income would be eased on the 1st of September unless extended by the Government.
