Maldives’ largest bank stops processing payments for Russian tourists, prompting hotels to turn them away
Bank of Maldives has been declining payments for Russian tourists’ accommodations on the islands since late October.
The Russian Union of Tourism Industry (RST) asked Russia’s Economic Development Ministry and Russia’s ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Levan Dzhagaryan, to intervene, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported.
RST said Bank of Maldives, the country’s largest, is returning payments for Russian tourists’ trips as well as payments from foreign legal entities.
Market participants told Kommersant FM that the amount of payments held up by Bank of Maldives had reached two million dollars as of November 6.
Without receiving the funds, hotels are asking guests to pay again for their stay or refusing to accommodate them, tour operators said. The payment problems have specifically affected businesses, Kommersant’s sources said. Hotels ultimately gave tourists rooms once they paid a second time.
Bank of Maldives confirmed to the Russian business news outlet RBC that it does not process money transfers connected to or related to Russia:
Under our current policy, Russia is on the list of countries with restricted access for money transfers. This means that money transfers (including incoming and outgoing) connected to or related to Russia are not processed, as required by law and regulations.
Russia’s Economic Development Ministry said it is preparing an appeal to the Maldives’ Ministry of Tourism and the country’s embassy in Russia to resolve the situation, and added that the two countries’ central banks will hold talks.
The Maldives rank among the top 10 destinations in the sales mix of Russian tour operators. Tours to the islands account for only a small share of bookings, but the average cost of a Maldives vacation is far higher than that of other popular destinations. The average cost of a booked tour to the Maldives was 585,600 rubles in November, compared with 246,000 rubles for Egypt, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported.
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