Male’, Maldives – Tourism Minister Dr.Abdullah Mausoom has said that the benefits from guest houses will be achieved only by working together.
Minister Mausoom tweeted today that the foundation to obtain benefits from the reopening of guesthouses on the 15th of this month is by working together with a sense of responsibility.
“The work done by everyone by joining hands to prioritize Tourism will be successful, Insha Allah”, said Minister Mausoom.
According to the “Safe Tourism Guideline” from Health Protection Agency (HPA), the guest houses were initially scheduled to reopen on August 15. This was later postponed to October due to the increased number of people testing positive for Covid-19. The Maldivian borders were closed on March 27 due to Covid-19, and was reopened on the 15th of August.
Guesthouse Association of Maldives (GAM) expressed their concern over postponing the reopening of guesthouses.The association said that guesthouse operators have incurred great losses due to the guesthouses being closed due to Covid-19 and that postponing the reopening of guesthouses is . The association further added that a date not being finalised to restart the work of such a huge industry is a factor that may lead to the extinction of the industry.
The tourism industry of Maldives, which suffered insurmountably after the country was forced to close all borders due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, has started picking up slowly after borders opened up on July 15th. After the three month closure, a total of 18,867 tourists have arrived into the country according to the latest statistics by Maldives Immigration.
