President Murmu Notifies Lakshadweep Tourism Rules, Mandates Safety Norms

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday promulgated tourism regulations for Lakshadweep, mandating official registration for service providers, strict safety protocols, and severe penalties for any damage to the fragile marine ecosystems.

The Lakshadweep Tourism Trade (Registration, Safety and Facilitation) Regulation, 2026, will apply to all commercial lodging, water sports, tour guides, travel agents, digital booking platforms, and tourism vessels operating in the Union Territory.

The regulations published in the Gazette impose a complete ban on tourism trade in the UK unless registered or exempted under the new rules, but give existing operators a six-month transition period from the commencement of the rules to apply for registration or category endorsements.

The new regulations require the administrator to notify one or more designated authorities for registration, inspection, adjudication, appeal, revision, safety audit, standards, or any other function.

Designated authorities have a strict timeline to dispose of applications, ranging from within 45 days for low-risk categories to 60 days for high-risk categories; tourism vessels, including live-aboard vessels, yachts, and any other category of vessel as may be notified, the regulation said.

If officials fail to meet these deadlines, applications will be deemed accepted, though high-risk operators must still submit mandatory safety certifications and insurance documentation before commencing operations, it said.

"Regulation to provide for the registration, facilitation and regulation of persons engaged in tourism trade in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep; to ensure safety of tourists, quality of tourism services, transparency in charges, responsible and sustainable use of fragile island and marine ecosystems and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto," it said.

"Nothing contained in this Regulation shall be construed as authorising any tourism activity in any area where such activity is prohibited or restricted under any law, notification, order, coastal zone regulation, environmental clearance, forest or wildlife law, maritime law, security instruction, permit regime or local restriction for the time being in force," it said.

The appellate authority will be an officer not below the rank of Secretary, Tourism, it said.

The regulations allow the administrator to allocate beach shacks and amenities via transparent auctions or draws, but explicitly mandate that no operator can claim any permanent right over any beach, foreshore, or public land.

"The allotment may be made through a transparent method, including application, draw of lots, preference to local inhabitants or community-based enterprises, auction or any other method notified in the public interest," it said.

The regulations introduce a broad protection framework for consumers, requiring service providers to publicly display tariffs, cancellation policies, registration numbers, and emergency contacts at their premises and on digital listings.

The rules strictly ban third-party digital platforms from listing or booking unregistered operators.

"No digital platform shall list, market, book or facilitate any accommodation unit, travel agent, tour operator, guide, adventure activity, scuba diving centre, tourism vessel, beach amenity, wellness tourism service or other notified tourism service unless such service provider is registered or exempted under this Regulation," it said.

Travel agents and tour guides are prohibited from soliciting undisclosed tips or commissions from tourists.

The regulation strictly prohibits littering, dumping waste, anchoring on coral reefs, or collecting protected marine species, with penalties ranging from 50,000 rupees for low-risk violations to Rs 5 lakh, if an unregistered operation causes environmental damage, such as damaging coral reefs or is found operating in a prohibited zone.

The operator may face equipment seizure, blacklisting for up to three years, and potential criminal prosecution in cases involving death or grievous injury, according to the new regulations.

The designated authority, appellate authority, and adjudicating officer will have the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, in that they will be entitled to summon persons, enforce attendance, require production of documents, receive evidence on affidavit and examine witnesses on oath.

"Any adventure tourism operator, scuba diving centre, scuba professional, tourism vessel operator, live-aboard or yacht operator or related person who violates safety standards, operates without required safety equipment, uses unqualified personnel, exceeds seating capacity, operates in prohibited area, ignores weather or sea warnings, fails to maintain insurance or fails to report an incident shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to five lakh rupees," regulations said.

In case of a contravention causing death, grievous hurt, major environmental damage, or serious public danger, the designated authority will report the matter to the police, without prejudice to penalty, cancellation of registration, or blacklisting under this Regulation, it said.

Any person who litters, damages tourist infrastructure, sign boards, beach amenities, coral reef, lagoon, vegetation, marine life, nesting sites, heritage sites, public infrastructure or local community assets in a tourist area will be liable to a penalty which may extend to Rs 1 lakh and may be directed to restore or compensate for the damage, it said.

"No contravention involving death, grievous hurt, sexual offence, trafficking, narcotic drugs, major environmental damage, serious coastal security risk, fraud, repeated high-risk safety violation or any offence under any other law shall be compounded under this Regulation," regulations said.