MATATO calls for reviews of resort security
29 Mar 2011, 3:14 PM
Neil Merrett
Bolstering security at the lucrative island resorts scattered across the Maldives poses an urgent challenge for government and industry amidst growing national and international crime, the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour operators (MATATO) has claimed.
Mohamed Maleeh Jamal, Secretary General for MATATO, said today that despite a relatively low number of security breaches at the country’s resorts, wider societal issues such as gang crime, piracy and terrorism needed to be hastily addressed by tourism operators and authorities.
The concerns echoed recent comments made to the media by Dr Mariyam Zulfa, Maldivian Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, over fears that rising levels of national crime are beginning to impact the country’s secluded resort business. The tourism industry has this year witnessed a number of isolated criminal incidents at the country’s resorts culminating last week in an attempted robbery at Baros Island Resort and Spa, and the death of one of the attackers.
The Tourism Minister said that while the industry had been working to be proactive in recent weeks to outline new measures alongside police and private companies that are designed to strengthen security against a number of potential “internal and external” threats, the recent robberies and reported presence of piracy in Maldivian waters has made addressing these issues more urgent.
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