Is diving in the Maldives a favourite holiday choice for you? You may be interested to hear that the Maldivian bed tax has been scrapped and replaced with a 3.5% tourism tax.
Mamduh Waheed, Deputy Tourism Minister said this move is aimed at incentivising the tourism industry to increase capacity and promote expansion. Whereas the bed tax was a flat US$ 8 per night, the 3.5% tourism tax will be a truer reflection of the guest’s expenditure as well as the income generated for the resort or liveaboard.
The difference to you, will not be that noticeable. Let’s put the figures into perspective. For a 7 night cruise on a medium budget Maldives liveaboard priced at US 1,663, the bed tax of US$ 56, will be replaced with 3.5% tourism tax of US$ 58 – that’s only US$ 2 more.
And when you take advantage of our special offers in the Maldives, you could be saving up to $13 on the tax alone!
The Tourism Goods and Services Tax Bill was ratified by President Mohamed Nasheed on 8 September 2010. The act will come into affect from January 2010 and apply to the following services and items sold to tourists:
- Room rates charged by resorts, hotels, picnic islands, and guest houses
- Room and bed rates charged by tourist vessels
- Prices of all goods and services, in addition to those included in numbers 1 and 2 above, sold to tourists from resorts, hotels, guest houses, picnic islands, tourist vessels
- Prices and charges of goods and services sold to tourists from diving schools, shops, spas, and water sports facilities in tourist resorts, hotels, guest houses and tourist vessels
- Travel planner charges
- Domestic transportation fares for tourists
So if you can see yourself amidst a flurry of manta rays while diving South Baa Atoll, why not consider taking a luxurious cruise on one of our Maldives liveaboards? Contact Dive The World for more information on +66 (0)83 505 7794 or you could send us an email.
Note: All prices quoted are per diver sharing and subject to currency fluctuations. Special offers apply to new bookings only.