Tourism Ministry: Travel restrictions on South Asia could be eased by mid-June

The Maldives will be easing the travel restrictions issued towards travelers from the South Asia region by mid-June. 

The Tourism Ministry announced today that the temporary suspension of visas for travelers from South Asian countries will be revised by the end of May. 

The Tourism Ministry, in its announcement today, also said that the travel restrictions could be eased by mid-June. 

Before the end of this month #Maldives will review the temporary suspension of tourist visas for those travelling from South Asian countries. We are optmistic of easing the temporary restrictions in early June. https://t.co/hV8vAGGYrk

— Ministry of Tourism (@MoTmv) May 17, 2021

Health authorities in the Maldives first halted the arrival of tourists from India to local guesthouses and hotels on inhabited islands due to the situation with COVID-19 in the country. Later on, the HPA issued a temporary halt on issuing tourist visas for all nations of South Asia due to the spread of the Indian variant of COVID-19 in the region. 

The move has led to a significant reduction in tourist arrivals. On average, the Maldives had seen 3,000 tourist arrivals per day. However, after the visa halt was issued, the arrival numbers fell to 2,000. The reduction was especially visible in tourist arrival numbers from India. Around 800 tourist arrivals were observed on average from the five Indian airlines operating to the Maldives before the travel restrictions.