Saudia Arabia’s Al Khozoma Management Company is conducting a feasibility study to develop a Sharia-compliant resort in the Maldives.
“It is an Islamic country and fits our philosophy. Also, it’s a preferred destination for Arab and GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] markets, so it makes sense,” the group’s hospitality division vice president Hussein Ali Hatata told Hotelier Middle East.
According to the March 2015 quarterly report by the tourism ministry, tourist arrivals from the Middle East increased by 46.7 percent in the first three months of 2015 compared to the same period last year.
Some 4,120 holidaymakers from the Middle East visited the Maldives this year, representing a market share of 3.7 percent.
In January 2014, the ADK company in association with Turkish hotel giant Caprice Gold announced plans to build the first Islamic resort in the Maldives.
The five-star, 673-room resort was to be built on Shaviyani Atoll Gaakoshibee. However, the two companies reportedly cancelled the agreement late last year.
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I struggle to imagine in what ways a Maldivian holiday resort can be "Sharia compliant". Repressive, Medieval and primitive (but rich) Saudis have no problem visiting or even buying property and living in non-Sharia complaint England for example..