It’s safe to say there’s really no such thing as a ‘cheap’ holiday to the Maldives, with its five-star resorts commanding high end prices for luxury escapes on the 1,200-island archipelago paradise, which attracts wealthy tourists from around the world.
One way to mitigate the cost a little is to redeem your KrisFlyer miles for a trip on Singapore Airlines, especially now that the country is on Singapore’s list of Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) allowing quarantine-free holidays, but unfortunately there’s some bad news in that department.
Maldives adds new departure tax
Earlier this year Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ratified a new airport departure tax schedule for tourists departing from the country’s airports, with an increased Airport Service Charge (ASC) and Airport Development Fee (ADF) for tourists departing internationally from Velana International Airport (MLE) kicking in from 1st January 2022.
Currently those departing MLE on international flights pay US$50 in taxes, regardless of their travel class, comprised of:
- Airport Service Charge (ASC): US$25
- Airport Development Fee (ADF): US$25
For departures from MLE from 1st January 2022, the following total fees will apply, depending on your travel class.
Maldives (MLE) total departure taxes
| Travel Class | Until 31 Dec 2021 |
From 1 Jan 2022 |
Increase |
| Economy | US$50 | US$60 | US$10 (+20%) |
| Business | US$50 | US$120 | US$70 (+140%) |
| First | US$50 | US$180 | US$130 (+260%) |
These come about from an increased ASC and ADF of US$30 for Economy Class passengers, US$60 for Business Class