Guesthouses in the atolls have reopened for tourists, 212 days after local guesthouses suspended operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On September 1, Ministry of Tourism announced guesthouses in all regions of the Maldives except the Greater Male’ Region will be permitted to reopen on October 15. The ministry instructed guesthouses to fulfill the health and safety guidelines of Health Protection Agency (HPA) and to seek the approval from the respective island council in order to resume services. The ministry revealed 22 guesthouses have so far submitted the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for resuming services, of which 16 guesthouses in 9 different islands have been permitted to resume operations on October 15.
In the guidelines issued regarding the resumption of guesthouse services, HPA stated guesthouses located within the premises of a household in which people are living in will not be allowed to resume services yet. HPA stated tourists staying in guesthouses are also not permitted to enter any local households in the island.
While tourists are permitted to enter cafes and restaurants in the island, such establishments must implement special safety measures before serving tourists. Tourists are required to wear face masks at all times when in public.
Furthermore, the guideline states if a tourist or staff of a guesthouse tests positive for COVID-19, the respective guesthouse is required to allocate a location for isolation and quarantine. Guesthouses with more than 500 beds are required to allocate 15 rooms for isolation, while guesthouses with 100 to 500 beds are required to allocate 8 rooms for isolation. Meanwhile, guesthouses with less than 100 beds are required to allocate 5 rooms for isolation.
Maldives reopened its borders for tourists on July 15, over three months after borders were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While resorts and liveaboards were permitted to resume operations on July 15, guesthouses were initially scheduled to reopen in August. However, the government delayed reopening of guesthouses due to a second wave of COVID-19 cases in the Maldives.
There are over 600 guesthouses registered in the Maldives, accounting for 20% of tourist beds in the country. The tourism ministry revealed 10% of all tourist arrivals in 2019 were recorded from guesthouses. Meanwhile, more than 6,000 jobs are directly linked to guesthouse businesses in the Maldives.