While some countries are struggling to massively vaccinate their population, the government of the Maldives offers tourists to have their two doses injected during a stay in this paradisiacal archipelago of South Asia.

A communication operation which could however collide with reality.

In this period of health crisis, many French people have not left France for over a year and who dream of travel, palm trees, coconut palms, sun and exoticism.

However, Covid-19 and heavenly stays would not ultimately be incompatible.

To bring back tourists, the Maldives offer packages with two doses of vaccine.

The South Asian archipelago wants to become a sort of "vaccine paradise".

Because the government's objective is to compensate for the losses of 2020: last year, the country received three times fewer visitors than in previous years, going from 1.7 million on average each year to 555,494.

"A chasm from which we must quickly get out", explains the Minister of Tourism, Abdulla Mausoom, interviewed by Europe 1. 

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One and a half million visitors expected

"Vaccination is one of the keys to travel today. From now on, as soon as you show up on a plane, you will be asked if you are vaccinated", assures the minister, who does not consider this approach as a "business".

Abdulla Mausoom specifies that the vaccination can be done directly in the hotel where the tourists will stay.

As for the price of the vaccine, it will be zero or at worst "insignificant", promises the government, which says above all that it wants, with this program, "to thank the tourists" who have chosen the Maldives.

He hopes to attract 1.5 million visitors by the end of 2021. 

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A simple "coup de com"?

But for Gérard Carnot, director of Maldives à la carte, a travel agency specializing in stays in the Maldives, it's mission impossible.

"I think it's a big communication blow," says Gérard Carnot.

"Other than the Janssen vaccine, which requires only one dose, all vaccines require two injections, which means customers will need to book trips of six to eight weeks."

The price of the stay could thus rise to 8,000 or 9,000 euros, according to the director of the travel agency. "Clearly, it will not be for everyone", tempers Gérard Carnot. And it won't be for now either. To launch its "3V" program (visit, vaccination and vacation), the government is waiting for all the inhabitants of the Maldives to be vaccinated. So far, only 60% have received a first dose.