| Tourism industry is the largest sector
in which foreign investment is common. The Maldives
in the early days of tourism had a relaxed policy
to attract investments. This has facilitated private
sector involvement and rapid growth in the sector
based on market forces. All the islands used as
resorts are leased by the government for private
individuals or companies. Multinational companies
and hoteliers like Hilton Hotels, Club Med, Four
Season and One and Only etc… run and manage
resorts in the Maldives today.
Many Maldives resort owners assign management
contracts with foreign companies and some of these
resorts are solely managed and owned by such companies.
The industry now is very much regulated by the
government of the Maldives. Tourism is now developed
and managed according to country wide policy based
on a master plan. This task is carried out by
the Ministry of Tourism. The ministry in the light
of their development plan decides how many beds
will be allocated in the country for tourists
in a given period.
In Maldives the resorts are self contained island
communities with all the amenities on the island.
Each of these small islands is a resort. The government
leases these islands to private parties to develop
as tourist resorts. Bidding of the islands are
regulated under Maldives Tourism Act 1996. Under
this Act any island which is to be developed as
a resort shall go on public bid. The bid document
is issued by the Ministry of Tourism and it has
to be submitted to the ministry before allocated
time for each bidding process. The winning bidder
is decided based on certain criteria they have
set.
At present there are 12 islands ear marked for
bidding. Bid documents are being issued by the
Ministry
of Tourism.
As tourism sector is a wide industry there are
scope for investments in many different related
activities such as supply of goods and other services
to this industry.
Maldives
Tourism Act 1999
This is an unofficial translation of Maldives
Tourism Act 1999. This act has repealed the earlier
version of which was introduced in 1979, the number
15/79 (Law on Tourism
in the Maldives) and Act No. 3/94 (Law on Leasing
of Uninhabited Islands for the Development of
Tourist Resorts).
|
