Almost 80 percent of resort workers have been fully vaccinated in the Maldives and 97 percent have received at least one dose, showed the data released by the country’s tourism ministry. The move will help brand its image as a safe travel destination at a time when tourism, its main revenue earner, was showing a worrisome decline. 

Since the vaccination drive started early this year, the Maldives prioritized the vaccination of its resort workers in order to make the luxury tourism industry as safe as possible during the pandemic. The government aimed to make the country the first fully vaccinated tourism sector globally.  

The Health Protection Agency (HPA), the main body managing the Covid-19 crisis in the archipelago, said that 260,281 persons have been fully vaccinated nationwide, with the number of persons to have received first doses sitting at 320,991 by the end of Wednesday.

The government has been making steady efforts to resuscitate the tourism industry, considered the backbone of its economy, and began a large-scale Covid-19 vaccination program for airport workers and tourism sector employees.

Between 15 July to 31 December last year, only 0.19 percent of tourists tested positive for the Covid-19 virus while the positivity rate among tourists between 1 January – 21 July 2021 was at 0.25 percent. However, it further dropped to 0.12 percent between July 1 and July 21.

The tourism ministry and HPA also started conducting regular audits of hotels, resorts, and guesthouses to check the compliance of Covid health guidelines and protocols. 

The Maldives, an archipelago situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is home to 1,190 plus coral islands. The country is famous for its luxury tourism in its high resorts making the country one of the world's most sought-after travel destinations in the world. There are over 132 resorts located in the different atolls constituting the Republic of Maldives, according to Visit Maldives. (SAM)