Maldives close luxury resort spas under Islamist pressure

"Massive war with the hotel industry"? The hotel industry is basically their largest source of income. Nobody enters into a "massive war" with their only source of income. As usual, overly dramatic choice of words anyway.

What? What is causing an immigration problem?

Are you seriously trying to defend this?

Complete nonsense, as usual.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Maldives

See above. Over 90 % of government tax revenue comes from tourism.

Because it is freaking ridiculous?

Too dumb to comment on, really, but:

- If you can't afford to go, how does it even affect you.
- You aren't really religiously forbidden, unless you choose to follow some ridiculous interpretation of your religion.
- Over 90 % of tax revenue.
- The only career advancement opportunities come from tourism, the very industry this proposal damages.
- Completely hypothetical and ridiculous idea that there is prostitution in spas in honeymoon luxury hotels. But very interesting that you would be willing to support this based on completely hypothetical and ridiculous speculation that there may be some "prostitution".

Not good for them at all. Only if you sympathize with an absurd interpretation of Islam above anything else.

It's not only reported in the Telegraph, this was all over the news.

I have heard that the big luxury hotels are ignoring this, though, e.g., the 3 spas in the Conrad Maldives are operating as usual.

 

New article. Looks like some of the opposition leaders who were acting like hypocrites actually own some of those resorts, LOL. And the government is now making it seem like they ordered this only to make the opposition look bad. But I don't buy that. It's a stupid move, it already hurts tourism there now because it causes insecurity among tourists thinking about going there. The hotels are just ignoring the order.

Luxury spas get caught in Maldives' political crossfire

(CNN) -- Honeymooners and international hotel owners are at the center of an acrimonious showdown over religion between the government and opposition parties in the popular luxury tourist destination of the Maldives.
The Tourism Ministry last week banned the use of spas across the country, sparking a fiery debate over Islam's role in the governing of the island nation. The nation's pristine beaches and rich marine wildlife drew nearly 800,000 tourists in 2010.
The move has prompted confusion, legal action and civil disobedience in the Indian Ocean nation, which has a population of about 350,000.
"The government has ordered all the spas in the islands to shut down," said Mohamed Rashad, the manager of Royal Island Hotel and Aaramu Spa in the Maldives.
But the hotel industry "is not going for that," he said. "We are open today and never closed, and the other hotels are keeping their spas open as far as I know."
The standoff over tourists' rights to have massages and skin treatments at the high-end resorts, many of which charge thousands of dollars for a night's accommodation, came following calls from opposition groups for a stricter imposition of Islamic values in the Muslim country.
The opposition's demands conflict with the more liberal stance of President Mohamed Nasheed, who has urged the country to stick what he describes as the more "tolerant" strain of Islam that it has practiced for hundreds of years.
The situation came to a head after opposition groups staged a demonstration on December 23 in which they advocated, among other things, for a crackdown on massage parlors in the capital, Male, and other more densely populated areas.
Rather than ignore the demands, the government raised the stakes last week by issuing an order to close all massage parlors and spas across the country's nearly 1,200 islands.
The opposition groups had not sought such a blanket ban of spa activities, said Mohamed Shaheem, a spokesman for Adhaalath Party, which participated in the rally.
The government has ordered all the spas in the islands to shut down
Mohamed Rashad, hotel manager
"We respect tourists," he said. "We are very happy with the tourism industry in the Maldives."
In a statement, the president's office suggested that the broader ban was an effort to highlight contradictions in the positions of some opposition figures.
"Ironically, the same opposition leaders who railed against spas and the selling of alcohol and pork to tourists are some of the country's biggest resort owners," the statement said.
Opposition leaders involved in the tourism industry include Qasim Ibrahim, the founder and chairman of Villa Group, which owns five resorts in the Maldives. Ibrahim is also the head of Jumhooree Party, which participated in the December 23 rally.
Repeated efforts on Monday to reach Qasim were not successful.
The hotel industry reacted to the ban by seeking a temporary court injunction and by holding talks with the government to try to get the spa services at major hotels excluded from the order, said Rashad of Royal Island Hotel.
"This was done for political purposes," he said. "Nobody has come out to check on us or to carry out inspections."
For its part, the government has suggested that it is willing to compromise with the big operators.
"Several have raised concerns over our decision," Mariyam Zulfa, the tourism minister, was quoted as saying over the weekend by the local news service Haveeru. "We are considering allowing resorts to operate spas."

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/02/world/asia/maldives-spas-ban/?hpt=ias_c2

 

So, now that they have embarrassed themselves enough:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap...NBJKGQ?docId=d57dbefadcd949cd9b34d4e129233386

Maldives president orders resort spas to reopen

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The president of the Maldives ordered the country's upscale resorts to reopen their spas on Wednesday pending a Supreme Court decision on whether they violate Islam, just days after they were shut under pressure from protesters led by an opposition party.
The court decision could be critical to the tourism-dependent island nation's economic future.
"The government has decided we will open all spas and give all the services to tourists which we have been giving before," President Mohammed Nasheed told The Associated Press by telephone.
"The tour operators were very worried" about the closure, he said.
Last week, authorities ordered all spas to close following a protest in the capital on Dec. 23 in which thousands of people called for a halt to "anti-Islamic" activities including spas.
The protesters also demanded that authorities halt the sale of alcohol on islands inhabited by local people, stop plans to allow direct flights from Israel, and demolish statues given by other countries to commemorate a South Asian summit in November which they saw as idols.
"To be racist in any way is detrimental to the tourism industry," Nasheed said of the call to halt Israeli flights. "This is not the way to go forward."
Debates on religious issues have intensified since a group vandalized a statue given by Pakistan bearing the image of Buddha. In November a protest followed a call by the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, for the Maldives to end the flogging of women found to have had sex outside marriage.
Nasheed has said he stands for a brand of moderate Islam traditionally practiced in the country and that it is vital to preserve tourism.

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LOL @ the people who thought that there were sexual activities offered in luxury honeymoon resort spas.

 

You seem to have absolutely no idea about the Maldives. They are a honeymoon destination, hardly anyone travels there alone. And on the resort islands, there are no prostitutes. These are very isolated places. You seem to be confusing this with Pattaya or something.

 

As you say, you have no idea about the Maldives. There is most definitely no prostitution in the luxury resorts there. I have traveled to many, many places, and I can say this for sure. You are judging from what you have seen, but I guess you would have to see it to understand. If all I had seen was Cancun, I would probably think like you.

You need to understand - the Maldives are not a destination for lonely business travelers or even for any kind of single travelers. They are a honeymoon destination. So, regardless of religion and laws, there is no market for prostitution on the resort islands (on the main island for the locals, there might be).

And the islands are so isolated that the cost and risk for any prostitute to relocate there to offer her services (with almost no single/unsupervised men being there) is prohibitive.

I was there on a trip around the world - alone - in 2003. I am pretty sure I was the ONLY single tourist on that whole island, other than like 150 honeymoon couples. Never felt lonelier in my life, and I think they thought of me as somewhat of a curiosity . (I "befriended" an Italian marine biologist lady working on that island after a few days, but that's a different story :grin:.)

I'd also say that typically, the people getting the expensive spa treatments are more probably the women rather than the men traveling there.

 

It is hilarious that you admit to not having any idea, yet you roll eyes. "Unlike anywhere else in the world" - how about we compare how many places in the world we have seen?

You seem to be very sure that things must be the same everywhere in the world, compared to what you have seen.

And yes, you can mock it, but I'd say it's 70 % to 30 % usage of resort spas women vs. men, on average, in the world.

The only island in the Maldives I can imagine prostitution going on (and where probably some of it does happen) is the overpopulated main island, where the locals live.

The resorts are all on tiny islands where you can walk from one end to the other in max. 20 minutes. You don't realize how unique the place is.

I find it funny how stubbornly you try to defend your position after you have already admitted that you have no clue about the place.