Male’, Maldives, 3rd January 2024 – The Maldivian government has enforced a new ruling impacting fees imposed on passenger liners, detailed in the Government Gazette released yesterday.
Under the updated regulation, passenger liners staying less than seven days in the Maldives must secure a permit from the Ministry of Tourism. A notable change is the reduced fee for these liners, now fixed at USD 850 for each day spent in the Maldives.
Passenger liners with a prior permit from the Tourism Ministry will no longer face the earlier imposed USD 100 fee on tourist vessels. Furthermore, these vessels are now exempt from the compulsory charter license, a prior requirement.
The new regulation introduces revised penalties for agents found violating it. Agents breaching the law more than twice will be fined USD 6,000 and risk losing their license. This is a notable shift from the previous regulation of September 2022, which lacked provisions for license revocation.
The initial regulation, unveiled in September 2022, drew criticism from the Maldives Association for Yacht Agents (MAYA). The association had expressed concerns that the strict measures in the prior regulation could potentially halt the entire industry.
