Male, May 28 (IANS): The Maldives government has cut down its minimum lease rates on 16 uninhabited islands in order to attract bids for tourism development projects, part of a plan to raise revenue after being hit by the coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Friday.

The government last month called for bids from local and international investors to lease out 16 islands for a 50-year period and invest in tourist hotel projects aimed at increasing the bed capacity by over 3,700 within the next three years, reports dpa news agency.

The Tourism Ministry, which fixed the minimum lease acquisition cost for the smallest island at $300,000 and the highest at $2.2 million, has now reduced the range to between $210,000 and $1.5 million.

A Ministry spokesman said rates had been reduced to take into account the response from investors and the current investment climate.

The islands on offer vary from 1.2 hectares up to 17 hectares.

Last year, only 555,494 tourists visited the Maldives, compared to the 1.7 million who travelled to the island nation on holiday in 2019.