More than 600 guesthouses now operational across Maldives

With five more guesthouses having resumed operations in the past fortnight, over 600 guesthouses are currently operational across Maldives.

The latest weekly statistics publicized by the Ministry of Tourism reveal that guesthouses resumed services across the Maldives over the past two weeks include one in Baa atoll, two in Kaafu atoll, one in Alif Dhaal atoll and one in Dhaal atoll.

One guesthouse temporarily halted services in Vashafaru island of Haa Alif atoll.

Further, one more resort also resumed operations over the past fortnight, with one liveaboard vessel shutting down services.

The total operational capacity of tourist accommodation establishments has risen to 916.

Of these, 161 are resorts, 602 are guesthouses, 10 are hotels and 143 are liveaboard vessels.

The number of operational beds increased to 52,922 as well, of which 38,182 are in resorts, 1,360 are in hotels, 10,564 are in guesthouses and 2,816 are in safari vessels.

Maldives currently has a capacity of 1,133 tourist facilities which include 157 safari vessels, 809 hotels and guesthouses and 167 resorts. This means that of the total facility-capacity, 14 safari vessels, six resorts, 197 guesthouses and hotels are yet to resume operations.

According to a publication by the Maldives Health Protection Agency (HPA), tourists who have not completed the Covid-19 vaccination will be barred from checking into guesthouses in residential islands. 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.

Nearly four months since borders were closed, Maldives reopened borders on 15 July 2020 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.