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Scandal at the Maldives

Scandal at the Maldives

16.03.2006, 14:55
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   Moscow tour operator Divex Travel contacted the legal service the capital of the Maldives, Male in order to resolve the conflict with the local company Sun Cross, said Divex representatives to a BANKO correspondent on March 16th.
   According to Pavel Markelov, General Director of Divex, the conflict occurred due to Sun Cross – organizer of fishing and diving from motor boats – refused to provide Russian tourists with paid in advance high-class boats substituting them by economy class ones. The last case in February became the last straw, said Markelov – when tourists arrived they were not provided with high class Blue Lagoon. Instead Sun Cross offered less expensive boat Sunset Queen. However, finally the tourists got neither of the boats and were accommodated in a shabby city hotel. ‘When we contacted Sunset Queen administration to find out about the situation they said that they had not received any request from Sun Cross’, said Markelov.
    As a result Divex booked Sunset Queen and paid for the hotel on Kurumba Island for tourists to wait in comfort for the boat. The total amount of unplanned expenses, according to Markelov, was $ 30, 000. Nevertheless, Divex clients on coming back to Moscow required compensation from the tour operator for the spoiled tours. Divex General Director plan to pay compensation to the tourists. However, initiating a court case against Sun Cross, Markelov does not hope for success. ‘The most important is to recover our reputation’, said Markelov.
    Furthermore, Mohammed Hardi, the Head of Sun Cross, has another point of view: ‘Divex Travel did not pay for Blue Lagoon therefore we had to provide it to other clients. It was fair to offer the other boat – Sunset Queen. Everything could have been fine but Divex decided to book the boat directly’. Hardi pointed out that he did not consider himself guilty. A propos, at the moment of giving an interview to a BANKO correspondent Hardi was in the police office. He said ‘he had problems caused by lack of payments from Western operators’.
   BANKO will continue watching and reporting on the development of events.

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