The Maldives Association of Yacht Agents (MAYA) said on Saturday that the number of cruise liners visiting the Maldives has decreased since the regulation was changed in September to allow for GST to be taken from individual rooms that passengers on the cruise use.
According to MAYA, passenger cruise liners that had planned to dock in the Maldives have started to divert their trips to other countries. The association said this issue arose as the changes made to the regulation began being implemented from Saturday, December 16 onwards.
“The new regulation says every charter will have to pay taxes. This is not something that is particularly easy to do,” an official from MAYA said.
According to the regulation publicized in September, 16 percent GST will have to be paid for each day a passenger stays in a room.
This change led to Fred Olsen Bolette, which was scheduled to arrive in the Maldives, to be cancelled as well. This cruise liner would have docked in the Maldives with about 800 passengers.
MAYA said if this regulation is not amended, cruise liners will stop visiting Maldives. They said taxing them in this way instead of a total tax is worrying, and may lead to large cruise liners to boycott Maldives as a destination.
Cruise ships are an important segment for the tourism sector of the Maldives, and due to the stringent measures, the Maldives is losing important opportunities, the MAYA official said.
Sign In