Minister of Tourism Ali Waheed has announced that there are nearly 1,000 tourists marooned across 27 resorts in Maldives due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the statistics collected by the Ministry by 5th April 2020, there are 938 tourists in Maldives.
These include 200 tourists who are unable to leave because of the travel restrictions. Tourism Ministry is looking after these tourists.
However, the remaining holidaymakers are are high end (super-rich) clients who intend to stay in the destination to escape lockdowns back home.
“The current resorts rates are between USD 300 and USD 900 daily. Private Islands are at an average USD 3,000 a day,” the Minister said.
While the high end luxury resort rates have fallen, before the COVID-19 pandemic the five star resorts in Maldives costed an average between USD 1,500 and 3,00 daily. The exclusive private islands were priced above USD 10,000 a day.
The Maldives government has taken a number of precautionary measures against the rapidly escalating state of the global COVID-19 pandemic including the suspension of on arrival visa for tourists. With this decision, the tourism industry has come to a halt resulting in temporary suspensions at several resorts in Maldives.
