Qatar and the Maldives announced a travel bubble between the two nations in order to give a much-needed boost to the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The programme will be executed by Qatar Airways. The special “Travel Bubble Holidays” will only be applicable for Qatari national and residents and they will be exempted from the quarantine and isolation rules required while entering to Qatar. 

The package is applicable between the period from December 1 to January 7 of the next years. The tourists will be required to stay only in dedicated resorts- Sandies Bathala Resort and Diamonds Thundifushi Resort- under the scheme. 

But passengers still need to present a negative RT-PCR report not older than 73 hours. Qatar Airways, however, informed that a rapid antigen test will also be conducted on tourists while they board planes.

This is the first such travel bubble arrangement between the two nations. Interestingly, it was the Qatar Airways’ flight which landed first on the Maldives after the country opened for tourism in July. 

Maldives received significant tourists from the Gulf country in the last five months.