Following reports of false hotel bookings made by incoming tourists, Maldives Immigration has said the authority is now verifying booking information by contacting guest houses.
Answering a question posed by AVAS, Immigration Controller Ahmed 'Hanafy' Hussai said while tourists arriving on falsified hotel bookings are increasing, the authority is now contacting local guesthouses to ensure whether the tourists do indeed have bookings with the hotels before issuing entry visas to them. The authority will also be checking the capacity of the guesthouses and how many tourists they can accommodate at a time, said Hanafy. He added that the measures being taken collectively by all relevant authorities would help address the current issue on hand.
While other steps are also being taken by Maldives Immigration to resolve the issue, Hanafy declined to share information on other measures. However, he assured that border patrol measures have been strengthened.
