The Maldivian Thriving Guest Houses Industry

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For a country that is mainly driven by tourism, it is essential to increase the number of inbound tourists year by year. The lush greenery and serene stretches of sandbanks of the Indian Ocean archipelago has, for the longest time defined Maldives as a luxury brand; but the problem with that is not everybody could afford luxury. Not everyone is made for the posh hotels and private island retreats, and this in turn limited the beautiful island nation to a generic audience. But as urbanization and modern development took over the nation, we witnessed the rise of tourist guesthouse businesses; an avail to those who had been only dreaming of a vacation in the Maldives, as they were offered luxury on a budget.

Fast forward to 2016, we are now in a Maldives where the guesthouse business has become a common household name. It has become one of the fastest growing industries – becoming a fully-fledged business, with several businesses and organizations endorsing them and coming to their aid. While almost all of the islands of the country sport a guesthouse, several commodities have been arranged for such businesses such as the ‘guesthouse internet’ by Dhiraagu.

‘Guesthouse Internet’, Ultimate Wi-Fi Solution for Guesthouses

In the world which has been subject to globalization over the years, it is incredibly important to access high speed internet no matter where you are. And that is one of the premier challenges faced by guesthouses – especially ones in the remote or rural areas of the country. With the ever growing guesthouse community, it had become a pivotal challenge for the telecommunication companies of the country bring a solution to such issues – and the country’s telecom giant, Dhiraagu has finally taken a step towards an ultimate solution and introduced the ‘guesthouse internet’ initiative.

"With this service, guest house customers will be able to access fast internet services from fiber optic cables, with private wi-fi hotspots via cloud wi-fi network system. Guest house owners will be able to offer their customers enhanced services," Dhiraagu revealed.

Dhiraagu said with the package, customers will be able to access cloud based centralized wi-fi management system, Unified Threat Management (UTM), manage and analyze traffic, guest portal and branded guest log-in page, different packages for guests, easily generate access codes, special relationship management and 24 hour technical support.

Guest House Insurance Scheme 

It is inevitable that insurance has become a vital part of our lives today. From health to motor, we make sure to insure all things dear to us – and to take it one step further, Allied Insurance’s Amana Takaful recently announced the ‘Guest House Insurance’ scheme.

The special package introduced for guesthouses include; Fire, Business Interruption, Public Liability and Burglary along with Natural Disaster covers. In addition to these, the package also offers additional covers such as Money Takaful, Employee Personal Accident Cover in addition to the plate glass cover.

Such packages by the leading insurance company of the country goes on to show how fast the industry has been growing and how different and various organizations are jumping on the bandwagon to support such business. It won’t be long before we experience even more advanced options being available for guesthouse owners.

Industry Tax Guide: Tourist Guest Houses

Not everyone is an expert when it comes to numbers and accounting, and due tax payments. And when such systems exist – especially ones specific to certain businesses it sure makes life easier to have a handy document that guides you around it all to teach you the ropes. The Industry Tax Guide published by Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) aims to do just that.

“Since tourist guest houses are subject to a number of taxes, it is important for guest house operators and those venturing into the industry to be fully aware of the tax implications”, MIRA said as they published the document.

The guide explains the requirement to register for various taxes and how to go about doing it, the taxes guesthouses are subject to, the tax returns guesthouses must file and the payments guesthouses must make, the deadlines for filing tax returns and making payments, what records guesthouses must maintain and other tax-related information which guesthouses need to know. In short, the book is covers everything you need to know about the taxes that you are responsible of paying – which could be found online through the official website of MIRA.

While these are just some of the very noteworthy initiatives by various organizations, there is no doubt that in the near future there will be even bigger and better initiatives in support of the local guesthouse industry. From non-existence to mainstream, the industry has proven itself within the span of just a few years – and it is only forecasted to grow by the numbers with each passing day.