Maldives Traveller | Travel News | Resort, Honeymoon, Diving & Spa

Spas Are Back

The government of Maldives has finally revoked the nationwide ban on spas and massage parlors and assured that sale of liquor and poke will not be disrupted. Meanwhile, the government has also requested the Supreme Court for consultation on the issue, whether spas and sale of liquor are legal under the constitution. President Mohamed Nasheed met with press in Bandos Island resort on Wednesday, to announce government's decision to allow spas and massage parlors back to operations.

 

Government imposed a ban on spas and massage parlors last week following a mass opposition rally on 23rd December that harshly criticized government's religious credentials and called for stricter Islamic State.  During the rally opposition activists accused that spas are secretly operated for prostitution and demanded those places be shut down. On 27thDecember government announced that it is closing down all the spas and massage parlors as supposedly demanded by the opposition.

 

Tourism Ministry issued a circular that ordered tourist resorts to cease operations of spas, a decision that came as a shock for the industry as it settled for the New Year. However the circular was ignored and defied by most of the resorts and Maldives Association for Tourism Industries, MATI filed a civil law suit to challenge government's decision.

 

Civil court ruled in favor of MATI's case, issuing a court order to put off imposing the ban on spas. Court's verdict stated that Tourism Ministry's circular violated the rights of resort and spa owners. However civil court ruling came few hours after president Nasheed announced that government is withdrawing the decision. At the court hearing, MATI's lawyer and former Prosecutor General, Azima Shukoor, said that government's decision to ban spas was illegitimate and baseless. She claimed that there is no legal restriction for the resort managements to operate spas and massage parlors.

 

A prominent lawyer and former Prosecutor General, Husnu Suood also questioned the legal authenticity of Tourism Ministry's circular. He told local media that government does not have the legitimate right to issue an order to close down spas.  Suood noted that resorts have the legal grounds to claim for compensation from any losses caused by government's order.

 

President Nasheed said that government had no intention to damage the tourism industry. "We wanted to impress upon everyone where the opposition's demands were ultimately going to end," the President said on Wednesday.  "Government's ultimatum woke the nation from its slumber and sparked a healthy national debate about the future direction of the country" he added.

 

More than 800,000 tourists visited Maldives in 2011 alone, and country's economy relies mostly on tourism revenue. For this reason alone, there was a strong public outcry over the ban and tension on tourism industry. However revoking government's decision is not the end to this debate. Supreme Court will today reveal its stance on the issue which will decide the course of this 'crisis'.

 

President Nasheed said he was confident all the institutions of state will realize the importance of placing national development first and will not act in a way that would damage the tourism industry.