Tourism Minister Dr. Abdulla Mausoom has urged all tourist businesses to operate in adherence to the guidelines set out by authorities as safety measures amidst the pandemic.
Via a tweet yesterday, Minister Mausoom highlighted that nine South Asian tourists who had arrived in the Maldives had tested positive for COVID-19 on yesterday itself. The nine tourists include six Bangladeshis, seven Indians, one Sri Lanka and one Nepali.
Minister Mausoom also added that it is too early to deem that COVID-19 poses no danger to us anymore – hence highly urges tourist businesses to operate in adherence to the guidelines set out by health authorities.
A lot of easements have been given to restrictive measures taken against COVID-19 following a significant drop in the number of positive cases. However, South Asian tourists are only allowed entry to the Maldives subject to that their stay is at a resort.
Nevertheless, Tourism Ministry has noted that some guesthouses have been allowing the stay of South Asians – against the guidelines
While the Ministry has begun inspecting guesthouses – they have suspended the operations of some guesthouses for allowing the stay of South Asian tourists.
Whereas stay at guesthouses are banned for South Asian tourists – they are allowed to transit at Male’ area guesthouses a period no longer than 48-hours.