Addu City, Maldives – Residents of Addu City have started signing a petition to be send to Parliament after two resorts in the city ceased operations due to Covid-19.
Organizers claim that this petition was formulated to ensure rights of workers left jobless after the closure of Shangri-la Villingili Resort and Spa and Canareef, the 2 largest resorts in the city, and report that they have accumulated 800 signatures already.
Canareef closed on June 15, with the General Manager of the resort disclosing this decision to the Managers of all departments in the resort. He also stated that the resort has been running on loss and that they have not received the help required from the government for the resort.
Furthermore, he revealed that due to the circumstance, the resort will not be able to provide proper service at the moment. Hence, they made the decision to temporarily close the resort for two years.
Shangri-la Villingili Resort and Spa announced that it will be ceasing all operations of the facility for an indefinite period of time this year as well. The decision was announced via a letter sent to the employees of the resort, signed by the General Manager, Rahim Flynn.
The letter revealed that all employment positions were to be made redundant, with the exception of a minimal ‘care and maintenance’ team to ensure the upkeep of the resort. This left hundreds jobless with no future job prospects in the city.
Only Equator Village, South Palm and a handful of guesthouses are currently in operation in Addu City, and of the 1200 tourist beds that were available in the city before the pandemic, only 600 are in service
To solve this, Addu City Mayor Abdullah Sodiq (Sobe) revealed the government’s plans to operate sea-planes to the city beginning next month, albeit at a loss and added that the national airline, Maldivian is prepared to start this service.
