In an interview with CNBC, Maldives Minister of Tourism Abdulla Mausoom announced plans to offer visitors corona vaccines, and the Maldives are not the only country to do so in order to jump-start tourism.
The Maldives government has recently announced its plan to offer tourists corona vaccines upon arrival, as part of its 3V initiative, Visit, Vaccinate, Vacation, set to revive the country’s hard-hit travel industry.
At present, visitors to the island paradise are required to present a PCR test and proof of hotel booking to gain entry. But in an interview with CNBC, Tourism Minister Mausoom said the country’s Health Protection Agency plans to make an announcement on restriction-free entry to vaccinated arrivals “very soon — maybe even this week.”
As for offering tourists the chance to vacay and vaccinate, the Minister emphasized the measure will only apply once all Maldives residents are vaccinated. It should be noted that 90% of tourism workers and 53% of all Maldives residents are already fully or partially inoculated.
Minister Mausoom also did not say whether visitors would be expected to pay to be vaccinated, but made cleart that supply would not be an issue.
According to the Tourism Minister, this initiative is a necessary strategy to boost the country’s economy and help the government to reach its target of 1.5 million tourist arrivals in 2021.
And as it turns out, the Maldives are not the only ones to come up with such an initiative. Just days ago, Alaska has also announced its plans to offer free corona vaccines to tourists, in an effort to boost its crippled tourism industry, after the cruise bans we’ve reported before.
As Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced at a press conference, from June 1, all visitors to Alaska will be able to receive a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at the airport in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau or Ketchikan. The vaccination drive is part of a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign to attract visitors back to the state. “We believe there’s a real opportunity to get folks to come to Alaska again,” said Mr. Dunleavy.
