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September 27th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
The Supreme Court stood by its decision yesterday, despite growing pressure
from the European Union and the Commonwealth to go ahead with the vote. On
Monday Mr Nasheed urged tourism workers to go on strike over the issue, and
on Wednesday the Maldives Association for Tourism Industries (MATI), issued
a statement warning of “irreparable consequences” to tourism in the
archipelago should elections not go ahead.
Any lengthy strike by resort staff would be likely to tarnish the country’s
image as a luxury holiday destination, and could force many visitors to
cancel or rearrange their trips.
Tourism accounts for around a third of the country’s GDP, and since the
overthrow of Mr Nasheed several calls have been made for travellers to stop
visiting the islands.
Mr Nasheed himself urged a complete tourism boycott last year, before issuing
a revised plea for holidaymakers to avoid resorts whose owners he claimed
were responsible for his downfall. The UK-based campaign group Friends of
Maldives has made similar calls, while Amnesty International has used the
country’s idyllic tourism image to highlight alleged human rights abuses
with the publication of a pamphlet entitled “Another Side of Paradise”.
The sentencing of a 15-year-old girl to 100 lashes for premarital sex earlier
this year – a sentence later quashed – led to further calls for travellers
to steer clear. The girl had reportedly confessed to police investigating
accusations that she had been raped by her stepfather and abused by other
local men.
Source Article from http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568301/s/31c66e2b/sc/39/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Ctravel0Ctravelnews0C10A3394620CMaldives0Eresort0Estaff0Ethreaten0Estrike0Bhtml/story01.htm
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