The Maldives will introduce a new departure tax on all flights departing in January 2022, with higher fees for foreigners, business, and first class passengers. A new airport development fee will also be added for departures from Velana International Airport.
Maldives Departure Tax – How Much? When Does It Start?
A new Airport Taxes and Fees Act was signed into law on Sunday by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih after passing the People’s Majlis (the unicameral legislative body of the Maldives). The new tax impacts not only Velana International Airport (MLE), but every airport in the archipelago nation.
The fee schedule, set to be introduced on January 1, 2022, will be according too the following schedule:
- Economy Class
- 60USD – foreigners
- 12USD – Maldivians
- Business Class
- 60USD – foreigners + Maldivians
- First Class
- 90USD – foreigners + Maldivians
- Private Jets
- 120USD – foreigners + Maldivians
Despite lower prices for Maldivians traveling in economy class, airlines will be tasked with collecting the departure tax. Airlines must remit payment to the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) by the 28th of each month, with the taxes payable only in USD.
MLE passengers will also face an additional “Airport Development Fee” which currently stands at $25. An “Airport Service Charge” (coded as Maldives Airport Fee and also currently $25) will be phased out by the end of 2022.
CONCLUSION
It is no surprise that the Maldives would attempt to squeeze more money out of its foreign tourists. Who is really going to protest and extra $60-90 after coming all that way? I’m certainly not going to celebrate a new tax and note this makes the Maldives less inviting, not more inviting, especially if your trip requires 2-4 internal flights to get to your resort.
That said, the Maldives is sinking. Literally. I don’t blame the island nation for looking for more funding to find a new capital, as Male (the most densely populated capital city in the world) will likely be underwater along with the rest of the nation in less than a century without technological innovation and investment.
Will the new Maldives departure tax deter you from visiting the Maldives?
I question Male as most densely populated capital city. Isn’t Manila?
Problem is that this money won’t be used to funs technology innovation to save the country. It will probably be spent by politicians like most taxes in something else. If they were smart they should ask for help for Italy and the amazing engineers that saved Venice.
Bingo! This is simply a money grab and that money will be tossed down a black hole as so much tax money is in nations around the world (including my own). It sure as heck isn’t going to do a single thing to stop the Maldives from “sinking”. Which it isn’t anyway. The concern is sea level rise and no local tax is going to make China and India stop building factories and cranking out CO2. Or the climate from coming out of the last little ice age (which it would have done anyway).
“Despite lower prices for Maldivians traveling in economy class, airlines will be tasked with collecting the departure tax.” Seems a bit on a non-sequitur. So if Maldivians were charged the same as foreigners it wouldn’t be the airline’s responsibility to collect the tax? 🙂
I’ve decided that as nice as the Maldives looks, I simply can’t justify flying around the world to sit on a beach that I can easily get on a smaller island in the Bahamas. I get the alure, but it’s just too much.
Awful. I’d sooner stay home and: order in some faux palms, dump some sand around the pool , serve drinks with tiny umbrellas, put on a record of Hawaiian steel band. These places are full of new money types: vulgar and clueless. A bit like a Mykonos in the tropics. Avoid at all costs. Or, if one MUST go to a resort, go somewhere half-way decent/interesting, like Mauritius or Seychelles
Maybe Maldives is okay for honeymooners..
In the past, sometimes, I would detour to a place to stay a day or two. Such tax would prevent me from doing that.
I once visited Nassau, Bahamas, arriving in the morning and leaving late afternoon. If the tax were $60, I might have avoided going and just looked around Miami.
Unless you’re on the way to China , that’s the most expensive place you can stop over for a few days. Try Srilanka but Avoid Maldives at all costs. It’s not for people on a budget.
Dear writer, If you can afford to go there you can afford to pay.. everything is expensive there anyway. Stick to the Bahamas if you’re on a budget.