Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI)’s Secretary General Ahmed Nazeer has criticized any action that could halt services to tourists.

Police and Customs officials have recently conducted search and seizures on five resorts of Villa Group, owned by opposition Jumhoree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim.

In an exclusive interview with RaajjeMV on the confiscation of a large amount of alcohol from one of the resorts, Nazeer said that tourists come to the resorts with an understanding that they would get certain services, and so halting any of it will affect the Maldives tourism industry as a whole.

“It’s not just liquor. It’s all services. Tourists come here on promises. If those promises are not delivered, it affects the whole country.”

Villa Group is a member of MATI, a non-governmental, non-profit organization formed in 1982, for the purpose of promoting tourism in the Maldives.

Nazeer said no major issue has come about after the Economic Ministry implemented new liquor laws in 2011.

In 2011, Customs was given the responsibility to give out liquor and pork import licenses to tourism firms.

While Customs searched Villa resorts for “illegally obtained” liquor, the company’s lawyer Hisaan Hussain have denied that the resorts brought in liquor illegally.

The government has announced that it will give Villa resorts a 14-day liquor and pork license, after negotiations with MATI and other stakeholders. The move was for the sake of tourists, it said.