The Maldives, once the dream destination for Indians, had recently become very attractively priced for Indians and one of the only two destinations allowing easy entry for Indians. This worked for the Maldives, as in the wake of closed borders, the westerners weren’t coming. Indians became the second-highest number of arrivals in the Maldives then, accounting for 21 per cent of the 400,000 tourists who arrived since the start of 2021. Now, Maldives suspends tourists from India, because of the new wave of the pandemic in the region.

The Maldives Suspends Tourists from India

The Maldives, however, has had to take steps to close down entry to Indians given the second wave of the pandemic. At first, they only barred Indians from inhabited islands of the Maldives. Now, there is a full-scale ban on Indian passport holders arriving in the Maldives coming up.

The Health Protection Agency of Maldives has put out a message that states that starting May 13, tourist visas for tourists travelling from South Asian countries will be temporarily halted.

Starting 13th May, tourist visas for tourists traveling from South Asia countries will be temporarily halted

— Health Protection Agency (@HPA_MV) May 11, 2021

South Asia, per the Maldives, includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. There is no clarity at the moment about how long this ban will be for. Here is the official circular.

Indians don’t need a pre-approved visa to visit the Maldives, but a Visa on Arrival is given to Indian passport holders free of cost on arrival. Also, the above tweet means foreigners travelling from India will also be barred from entering the Maldives till future notice.

On May 8, 2021, Maldives also shut down the entry of Work Permit Holders from South Asia. The Maldives is battling a covid spread of its own, unfortunately at this time.

Unfortunately, this means trouble for those who are already in the Maldives at this time. Airlines have already cut flights on the back of demand going down, and the last notification in April 2021 created confusion and dropped traffic massively. Now, airlines may stop operating to the Maldives altogether unless cargo operations make them operate flights.

Anybody here whose trip to the Maldives getting cancelled because of the Pandemic?

---

Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.