Passenger liner fee reduced under new regulation

The fee charged on passenger liners has been reduced under a new regulation on travel and anchorage of tourist vessels in the Maldives, published on the Government Gazette on Tuesday.

The new regulation stipulates that vessels that stay in the Maldives for less than seven days will need to obtain a permit from the Tourism Ministry. And, passenger liners will be charged USD 850 for each day spent in the Maldives.

However, if the passenger liner obtains prior permit from the Tourism Ministry, it will not be charged the USD 100 fee previously imposed on tourist vessels.

Passenger liners with prior permission will also not be required to take a charter license – which was compulsory under the previous regulation.

The new regulation also revised penalties imposed on agents for violations.

Under the new regulation, agents that violate the law more than twice will be fined USD 6,000 and have their license revoked.

The previous regulation, released on September 2022, did not stipulate the revocation of license.

The previous regulation had been criticized by the Maldives Association for Yacht Agents (MAYA), which warned the stringent regulation would bring the whole industry to a standstill.