Guesthouse Association of Maldives (GAM) has expressed their concern of renting beach spaces in front of guesthouse ventures in Hulhumale'.
In a letter sent by the General Manager of GAM to Housing Development Corporation's Managing Director Mohamed Saiman, the association had criticized the move of local guesthouse ventures in taking up beach spaces and renting them out for corporate transactions. They had argued the shoreline and waterfront spaces across these guesthouses are public properties and it should not be exploited for corporate use.
The association had stated that while picnic islands like 'Kuda Bandos' and 'Feydhoo Finolhu' have since been transformed into business ventures, locals living in Greater Male' region have Hulhumale' has the biggest beach space from a nearby island that can be utilized for rest and relaxation.
In addition to this, Hulhumale' also attracts a large number of transit or layover flight guests who spend a day or two before traveling to their eventual holiday destination; booked hotels or resorts - thus a huge number of foreigners hop the satellite town and its beach.
Guesthouse Association opposed the idea of privatizing a large beach space for corporations and restricting public visit and usage of it.
They had also added that while lands and plots have been purchased through several years in past, commercializing the spaces had not been mandatory and neither it had been announced until October 25, 2017.
The association finds this new regulation to provide a biased leverage on guesthouse ventures to exploit a public area to be used for private engagements.
