The government of the Maldives has amended the law to allow companies to sell their shares in resorts without the permission of the Ministry of Tourism.
The amendment has been published in the Government Gazette. As such, the two provisions on the exchange of shares have now been repealed. The two repealed provisions are the requirement to obtain written permission from the tourism ministry for the transfer of shares of a company leased for a tourist resort and the requirement to submit a transfer certificate issued by the Ministry of Economic Development to the tourism ministry.
According to the law, if a company that has leased an island to build a resort sells its shares, it must obtain permission from the tourism ministry. The ministry is allocating islands and lagoons to develop tourism in the Maldives. As such, a total of 13 projects have been opened in eight atolls. The ministry said the projects have been well received by investors.