President proposes voluntary tourist tax for Maldives to become carbon neutral

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has said that the Maldives has proposed the idea of a voluntary tax for air travellers coming to Maldives, as a step towards the country becoming carbon neutral.

He made this statement in an interview with Reuters this week.

"We have proposed the idea of a voluntary fund for air travellers coming to the Maldives. Even if each tourist contributed $10, that's $10 million (a year) for us and a substantial contribution to the carbon neutral programme," the President told Reuters.

He expressed confidence that most tourists who come to the Maldives are environmentally conscious and would be happy to make a contribution to making the Maldives carbon neutral.

He also said that the country is ‘a little bit behind schedule’ on the carbon neutral plan, but hopes to catch up over the next 5 years or so.

"Male’ is not the most ideal island location right now - it doesn't have 'green' buildings but a lot of companies are interested in developing them," he said.

The announcement of the Maldives becoming a carbon neutral country in ten years was made by former President Mohamed Nasheed.