With three more tourist facilities opening doors, operational capacity rises to 893

Over the past week, three more tourist accommodation establishments opened doors to tourists nationwide, with which the number of operational tourist facilities nationwide has reached 893.

The latest weekly statistics publicized by the Ministry of Tourism reveal that a total of 893 facilities are currently operational nationwide, of which 157 are resorts, 582 are guesthouses, 10 are hotels and 144 are liveaboard vessels.

By Thursday, 51,276 operational beds span across the facilities, of which 36,974 are in resorts, 11,456 are in hotels and guesthouses and 2,846 are in safari vessels.

Maldives has a capacity of 1,107 tourist facilities which include 159 safari vessels, 782 hotels and guesthouses and 166 resorts. This means that of the total facility-capacity, 15 safari vessels, nine resorts, 190 guesthouses and hotels are yet to resume operations.

Maldives recorded 962,490 tourist arrivals between by Thursday, of which 91,628 were recorded between October 1 - 21.

Tourists who have not completed the Covid-19 vaccination will be barred from checking into guesthouses established in residential islands, according to a recent publication by the Maldives Health Protection Agency (HPA). As such, only those who have passed the limit of 14 days after completing both doses of the vaccine can check in to local guesthouses.

Maldives reopened borders on 15 July 2020, nearly four months since borders were closed and at first, resorts and liveaboard vessels were given the green light to begin operations. Guesthouses outside of the Greater Malé Region were permitted to resume operations on 15 October 2020. Authorities allowed the reopening of guesthouses in the capital region on 14 December 2020.