Indian travel agents are reassessing their Maldives package prices after the Maldives government extended its 17 per cent Tourism Goods and Services Tax to overseas sellers, according to a report by TTG Asia published on 7 October 2026.
TTG Asia reported that the decision is prompting agents and tour operators booking Maldives packages from India to review pricing. It quoted Prateek Wadhwa, chief executive of Dream Trip4U, as saying: “We expect some increase in our Maldives package prices after October 1, but we don’t expect the full impact to be a straight 17 per cent increase for the customer.” Vinay Arora, founder of ATG Holidays, was quoted as saying: “Indian travel agents cannot absorb this additional cost and price-conscious travellers may look at alternate destinations like Bali, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Thailand.” The report added that the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India urged the Maldivian government to withdraw the levy.
What the Law Does
An explainer published by the Maldives Independent on 9 September described the change as taxing the place where a service is consumed rather than where the seller happens to be established. It said the 17 per cent tourism GST (T-GST) applies with effect from 1 October, and that travel agents and tour operators based abroad, with examples in Manchester, Munich and Milan, can be required to register with the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority, with no turnover threshold.
According to the same explainer, the tax is charged on the margin: a special valuation rule for offshore suppliers sets the taxable value as what the traveller pays, less what is payable to the Maldivian supplier. It reported that President Dr Mohamed Muizzu ratified the legal changes on 31 August.
The Maldives Independent also reported an estimate of annual tax revenue of MVR1.6 billion (US$104 million), made up of MVR299.3 million from overseas travel agents and about MVR1.3 billion from foreign tour operators.
Why It Matters
The change moves part of the cost of a Maldives holiday onto the businesses that sell it from abroad, and how much of that reaches the traveller is now a pricing decision for each seller. Wadhwa’s remark that the impact would not be a straight 17 per cent reflects the fact that the tax applies to the margin, not the whole package price. Whether travellers switch destinations, as Arora warned they might, is a claim that booking data will need to confirm over the coming months.
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