WEDDING TOURISM:THE MALDIVES will introduce strict guidelines on conducting vows ceremonies for tourists after a foreign couple was mocked and abused by staff members at a local resort, the nation's president, Mohamed Nasheed, said yesterday.
The five-star Vilu Reef hotel in the Maldives has apologised to the couple who were called swine and infidels during a tirade of religious and sexual abuse that was meant to be a renewal of their wedding vows in the local language. The matter is now believed to be with the couple’s solicitors.
President Nasheed said he was disgusted by the incident and described the behaviour of the staff – two of whom have been arrested by local police – as “absolutely disgraceful”. All tourist hotels without exception will be required to follow the new guidelines which will be issued shortly, he said.
Days after the YouTube clip showing the couple at the five-star hotel in the Maldives being insulted, the tourism industry there is still picking up the pieces.
The Muslim-majority Maldives, a nation of tiny coral islands that are in danger of sinking into the sea, relies heavily on tourism. A tourism representative speaking from London said: “Tourism in the Maldives will be drastically affected by this. It cannot be swept under the carpet. Maldives Tourism will have to look into this in more depth. At the moment they are trying to sort it out as best they can.”
Set on its own exclusive island in the Indian Ocean, the Vilu Reef hotel is a popular destination for couples intending to renew their marriage vows. The $350 (€250) a night hotel features in the video in which the couple – believed to be Swiss – can be seen seated opposite a white clad celebrant who explains the ceremony to them in English before switching to the local Dhivehi language.
He then tells bizarre sexual jokes involving chickens before showering insults on the couple, telling them: “Your marriage is not a valid one. You are not the kind of people who can have a valid marriage. One of you is an infidel. The other, too, is an infidel – and we have reason to believe – an atheist, who does not even believe in an infidel religion.”
The ceremony is part of a wedding package offer by the hotel where guests stay in cabins on stilts in the turquoise sea. The vows ceremony package has now been taken down from the hotel’s website.