Minister: We are making transport arrangements for resort workers

Tourism Minister Ali Waheed, on Monday, said that the government was working on making arrangements to facilitate the travel of workers in resorts back to their home islands.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant restrictive measures have left many resort workers stranded in resort islands. Some have been away from their families for weeks.

At the National Emergency Operations Center press briefing this afternoon, Ali Waheed said the government was working on making transport arrangements to allow resort workers who had been stranded in resort islands due to lockdowns to return to their homes.

“We are working on making arrangements to allow the staff of resorts that had previously been under lockdown to return to their islands,” said Ali Waheed. “In Sha Allah, we will make special arrangements in collaboration with the management of resorts to ensure the staffs stranded in resorts are able to return back to their home islands.”

Resort workers were previously allowed to leave their resorts 14 days from the day the last tourist leaves the resort. However, the emergence of a COVID-19 community spread in the capital on April 15 prompted a lockdown on the Greater Male’ Area and a nationwide ban on travel between islands.