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Tourism Ministry expands split-stays for tourists visiting Maldives

Shahudha Mohamed
24 October 2020, MVT 09:39
'Carpe Diem' liveaboard of the Carpe Diem Maldives fleet. Miniatey of Tourism has expanded the permission for split-atays to liveaboards and guesthouses. PHOTO: CARPE DIEM MALDIVES
Shahudha Mohamed
24 October 2020, MVT 09:39

The Ministry of Tourism, on Friday, expanded the permission for split-stays in Maldives, meaning that visitors can holiday in more than one tourist facility including resorts, liveaboards and guesthouses.

Prior to this, after Maldives reopened its borders after a period of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, split-stays were allowed between resorts only.

Tourism Minister Dr Abdulla Mausoom stated that over 50 percent of tourist beds in the island nation are now operational, including beds in resorts, guesthouses and liveaboards.

Statistics publicised by Maldives Immigration show a notable increase in the number of tourists visiting Maldives month by month. The island nation recorded a total of 27,217 tourist arrivals during the three months after the border opening.

Tourism Ministry estimates that a total of 500,000 tourists will visit Maldives for the year 2020. Before the pandemic hit, Maldives recorded 1.7 million arrivals in 2019, which is highest number ever recorded in the country’s history.

As with numerous countries around the world, in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Maldives closed its air and sea borders to tourist arrivals from March 27 to July 15.

The restrictions on international travel left Maldives' heavily tourism reliant economy in an extremely vulnerable state. In mid-April, the World Bank projected that Maldives would be the worst-hit economy in the South Asian region due to the pandemic.

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