Maldives to resume Issuing of On Arrival Tourist Visa from 15 July 2021 Onwards for Tourists Traveling from South Asia: Tourism Ministry

30 June, 2021

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih announced the government’s decision and added that this decision will be reviewed periodically between July 1-15 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On an official tweet, Ministry of Tourism revealed that Maldives will resume issue of on arrival tourist visa for guests traveling from South Asia. It also read as tourists are required to present a negative PCR test result to enter the Maldives.

The news comes after Maldives had been suspended for travelers from South Asian destinations due to increasing number of COVID cases in the region including the discovery of new variants.

India has remained an important market to the Maldives since its tourism restarted in July 2020, while majority of the world had remained closed down.

Maldives has recently welcomed over 500,000 tourist arrivals this year. The Ministry of Tourism announced the news via a tweet, congratulating the industries, volunteers and the Maldivian people for helping achieve this wonderful milestone during this challenging period.

Maldives aims to make the destination, the first fully vaccinated tourism sector in the world. As of 23rd June 2021, 96% of resort employees have received the first dose of the vaccine while 70% of the resort employees are fully vaccinated.

With a decline in the global number of COVID-19 cases, easing of travel restrictions and the commencement of mass vaccination campaigns worldwide, there is hope that the Maldives will welcome over a million travelers to the Maldives in 2021.