Tourism officials in the Maldives yesterday denied that health spas at luxury holiday resorts operate as brothels after the facilities were shut down on government orders.

Last week the tourism ministry instructed resort hotels on the nation’s pristine coral islands to close all spas and health centres that offered beauty treatments and massages.

The crackdown followed protests by an Islamist party that claimed they were a front for prostitution.

“Sex tourism definitely does not happen in the resorts,” said Sim Ibrahim, head of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI).

“The ban is very disruptive, not helpful for tourism and bad for our country’s image.

“We have asked for legal clarity to protect an industry that has been in operation for 40 years,” he said.

At least 100 spas and health centres were shut immediately after the government announcement.

However, Mr Ibrahim said tourism was crucial for the national economy and that he hoped the ban would be overturned within days.

Home to some 330,000 Sunni Muslims, the Maldives’ reputation as a paradise holiday destination has come under pressure from a minority of religious fundamentalists who are growing in influence.

President Mohamed Nasheed recently rejected religious extremism and urged his people to support a “tolerant” form of Islam practised in the country for centuries.

Tourism Minister Mariyam Zulfa said a compromise was being considered.

“The government is not against the tourism business,” he said.

The opposition Adhaalath party, a conservative religious movement whose website features an article criticising “lustful music”, last month staged protests in Male accusing spas of being used as brothels.

Factbox

• Maldives, officially Republic of Maldives, is the smallest Asian country in both population and land area and is the planet’s lowest country.

• Located in the Indian Ocean, the island nation consists of about 1,190 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 26 atolls.

• It is one of the most dispersed countries in geographic terms as its territory is spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres.

• Maldives is a presidential republic, with the President as head of government and head of state.

• Its capital and largest city Male has a population of approximately 103,000 people.

• The temperature is tropical, ranging between 24°C and 33°C throughout the year.

• Over the last century, sea levels have risen about 20 centimetres.

• Maldives’ waters are home to several ecosystems, but are most noted for their variety of colourful coral reefs, home to 1100 species of fish, five species of sea turtles, 21 species of whales and dolphins, 187 species of corals, 400 species of molluscs, and 83 species of echinoderms.

• Tourism began to be developed on the archipelago by the beginning of the 1970s.

• The Maldives was devastated by a tsunami following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Only nine islands were reported to have escaped any flooding.