248 Tourists Denied Entry To Maldives On A Single Day

Controller of the Maldives Immigration has said that 248 passengers were denied entry to Maldives on a single day, on 15 July, due to fake hotel reservations. Anonymous sources say they were all tourists, mostly from India. Maldives has recently started welcoming more Indians and many speculate that Indians may be using Maldives as a transit destination when final destination prohibits people flying directly from India. These tourists usually stay for 2 weeks, apparently to get Covid-clearance. Currently the pandemic is under control in Maldives and many countries give entry to passengers who spend 2 weeks in Maldives and obtain negative PCR test result right before existing Maldives.



Mohamed Ahmed Hussain, the Controller of Immigration tweeted on the rejection of 248 passengers due to forged hotel bookings. The Controller did not reveal how did they manage to trace the fake hotel reservations. But, there is a high likelihood that the bookings were cross-checked from respective hotels.

The laws of the Maldives allow Department Of Immigration to determine the fate of tourists who do not have a valid hotel reservation. Immigrations policies have been changing frequently in the recently months due to Covid19 pandemic and authorities advice to ensure everything is in order before flying to Maldives.

Maldives Immigration officials at the airports are highly trained to identify illegal activities. Maldives Finest learned of previous case involving some Nigerians, their entry was denied at the Velana International Airport. When the officer asked them about the airport transfer arrangement they responded saying that they would go by taxi, but the hotel was located at another island and transfer should have been by sea.

Last month the Maldives registered record number of Covid19 positive cases in the country and tourists from some nationalities including India were banned from visiting Maldives. Cases reduced to around 5% this month and border was re-opened for those countries. Since then wealthy Indians have been travelling to Maldives in large numbers, many of them to enjoy holiday at resorts.



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