Minister: USD 5m in dues recovered from resorts in 17 days

USD 5 million in dues owed by resorts have been recovered over the last 17 days, says Tourism Minister Ibrahim Faisal.

In an interview to SanguTV on Saturday night, Faisal said the state is owed USD 78.5 million from operational resorts across the country. He said the Tourism Ministry is engaged in negotiations with resort operators to recover the funds.

He said that the ministry has recovered USD 5 million by sending notices to resorts with outstanding debts.

According to Faisal, the state is also owed an additional USD 173 million from resorts under development.

“We are working to offer business operators flexible options to pay this money. They will need to settle the dues within five years at the most,” he said.

Faisal said that tourism taxes and fees make for the most of uncollected state revenue.

He said the government was working to recover the funds through “efficient policies.”

The remarks come after President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, in his address at the Independence Day function on Friday, said that the state is owed approximately MVR 13 billion, and that his administration will recover the funds.

President Muizzu blamed former administrations for failure to recover funds owed to the state.

He said that the recovery of the funds is crucial to alleviating the country’s fiscal burden.