Minister of Tourism Ibrahim Faisal has promised to provide solutions for the issues related to cruise liners.
The previous government implemented a new regulation stipulating tax levies per room in cruise liners, which created difficulties in the cruise liner segment of tourism.
Maldives Association of Yacht Agents (MAYA) protested against this stating that the decision resulted in cruises opting for other neighboring destinations instead of the island nation.
Minister of Tourism via X said that the previous administration’s decision would be rectified to provide a permanent solution.
The regulation was implemented earlier in September which demanded a 16% GST per room per night from cruise liners.
According to MAYA, taxing from each charter separately was an illogical and fiscally unrealistic approach. The association further criticized the government for opting the method instead of choosing a total fee approach.