Malé, Maldives – Tourism Minister Dr.Abdullah Mausoom said that the number of islands and lagoon’s leased by the government for resort development are at 85 and that they aim to bring these resorts to life within three years.
While answering questions from parliament members at today’s sitting, Minister Mausoom said that the 51,000 tourist beds currently available in Maldives is actually a less amount compared to the industry. Minister Mausoom stressed on the deficiency of tourist beds, Minister noted that the Domestic Transport Network of Maldives can be run only with the availability of a sufficient number of beds.
Further speaking, Minister said that the current government anticipates to bring out 28 islands for resort development and that the availability of these beds will be ensured depending on the phase. He added that there are currently 85 locations not developed as resorts, including islands and resorts. Additionally he noted that the development of these locations would be possible under the bill for enabling tourism and that they have already met some relevant authorities regarding the progress.
The latest official figures show that currently there are a total of 51,000 operational tourist beds in the country, which include beds from 140 different resorts – all which were granted approval conditioned that all health safety and precautionary measures are met as per the set standards by Health Protection Agency (HPA).
At present, there are only few restrictions for visitors entering the country, with just the requirement to produce a negative PCR test administered 96 hours prior to departure. However, authorities have made it mandatory for any one arriving from the UK to undergo a 10 day quarantine period, subject to a PCR test, given the current spread of a new Covid-19 variant in the region.
