MATATO complains tourism not included in Islamic Ministry’s blessings during Friday prayer
30 May 2013, 6:57 PM
Ahmed Nazeer
The Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) has written to the Islamic Ministry expressing concern that tourism was not among those industry sectors blessed during Friday prayers.
MATATO President Mohamed Khaleel confirmed to Minivan News that a letter had been sent to the Islamic Ministry yesterday (May 29) expressing concern that the country’s farming and fishing industries continued to be blessed following Friday prayers, while tourism sector had not received the same courtesy.
Under the country’s laws, traditional holiday staples such as the sale and consumption of alcohol and pork products, and women publicly sunbathing in bikinis, are outlawed outside designated ‘uninhabited’ islands set aside exclusively for resort development.
A letter sent by MATATO to the Islamic Ministry stated that the biggest gift from God to the Maldives over the past 40 years was the establishment of tourist resorts on uninhabited islands in the Maldives, according to local media.
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