A total of 1,225 tourist facilities are currently operational across the Maldives.

This was revealed by the latest weekly statistics publicized by the Ministry of Tourism on Wednesday.

Presently, a total of 60,236 tourist beds are in operation across these facilities, which include 168 resorts, 891 guesthouses, 13 hotels and 153 live-aboard vessels. The guesthouses span across 117 islands of 20 atolls, with hotels operational in seven islands of seven atolls.

The total number of operational beds span across resorts, hotels, guesthouses, and live-aboard vessels including 41,049 in resorts, 1,640 in hotels, 14,588 in guesthouses and 2,959 in live-aboard vessels.

After the Covid 19 pandemic Maldives re-opened borders on 15 July 2020 nearly four months since borders were closed, and at first, resorts and live-aboard 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.

Due to the recent increase in incidents related to water-based activities, Ministry of Tourism has once again urged tourist facilities to strengthen their safety protocols for all water- based activities.

The Ministry published a circular reminding all tourist facilities to be vigilant and take precautionary measures especially in relation to swimming, snorkeling, diving and other water-based activities.

In this regard, the Tourism Ministry urged facilities to conduct general safety briefing during guest check-in. They also reminded facilities to conduct detailed safety briefing before commencing any water-based activity.

Additionally, the Ministry reminded tourist facilities to conduct regular trainings and awareness session for staff involved in water sports activities. They urges the staff to always remain cautious.

Furthermore, the Ministry urged tourist facilities to encourage staff to adhere to work safety protocols and conduct regular training on safety aspects.

The ministry introduced Homestay in the Maldives in January 2022, since then a few more homestay facilities have been opened. This comes under President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s tourism development vision and policy to make tourism and its benefits accessible to the island communities as well.