New Year holiday ruined; 5 hours at airport
Due to the inconvenience faced by the tourists, some resorts and travel agents have decided to compensate them as well.
By
Ahmed Naif
Saturday was a bad luck day for tourists who came to the Maldives to celebrate the New Year at the cost of thousands of dollars. The same problem is true for some tourists this Sunday as well.
A 'malware' attack on the system of TMA, the country's largest seaplane operator, which plays a major role in ferrying tourists to resorts, halted flights without checking people in. With this, the holidays of many tourists were ruined.
"Some of our guests did not go to the resort for five hours and had to stay at the airport. Around 50 tourists were stranded,from only us," an airport rep for a high-end resort, who did not wish to be named, told Atoll Times.
According to him, resorts and travel agents were also in a state of shock after the TMA planes were grounded. He added that when the TMA suddenly asked him to make other arrangements to send tourists to resorts, it took a lot of time.
"We had to divert our resort customers to the domestic network. It took a lot of time to get tickets for the flights. They paid such a high price and when something like that happens, most people complained that they were not satisfied," he said.
TMA’s check-in system is yet to return to normalcy. So, now the check-in is being done manually in a book. The information is then entered into the system later. So, when there are more flights coming in, the check-in queue swells a lot, and people get crowded.
"I'm worried that it's not resolved with so much time. There's really no good communication. Now, many resorts are not dependent on TMA and are sending tourists to the resorts," said an employee of another resort working at the airport, who did not wish to be named.
The TMA said it could not say when the system would return to normal.
Resorts are forced to take tourists through domestic flights and other seaplane operators, or hire speedboats.
"Once we get the assurance that the entire system is in place, we will pick up guests via TMA again," said a general manager at a resort, who did not wish to be named.
Due to the inconvenience faced by the tourists, some resorts and travel agents have decided to compensate them as well. The TMA, however, is yet to talk to the resorts in such a manner.
