Tour Guide Association of Maldives (TGAM) has expressed their concerns saying that tour guides, who help tourists who arrive in Maldives, do not have job security.
In an interview given to Vnews, President of the association, Mohamed Shiyam said that the tour guides work under an agreement between guest shops and resorts. He said that the government does not regulate the business and so people without permission and foreigners were also working as tour guides.
Shiyam said that people without the permit to work, and foreigners were not allowed to act as tour guides, and that the relevant government authorities were not taking any steps to stop it.
Shiyam also said that he had sent a letter to Labor Relation Authority to discuss the issue of tour guides lacking job agreements while noting that he had not received a reply.
He noted that visitors to Maldives are being targeted for theft, and that there is no official way to look into the issue. He added that the Tourism Ministry is not taking the necessary actions for it either.
Around 200 Maldivians are registered to the association and working as tour guides. But the association is raising complaints that the lack of a job agreements, and unregistered tour guides working against the guidelines were threatening their jobs.