Maldives tourist arrivals exceed 483,000-mark

By Wednesday, Maldives tourist arrivals for 2021 had crossed the 483,000-mark.

The Ministry of Tourism publicized its weekly statistics report on Thursday, highlighting that a total of 483,115 tourists were welcomed between January 1 – June 16.

Of the total arrivals, 92,103 tourist arrivals were recorded during January and 96,882 visitors were welcomed during February. Tourist arrivals escalated to 109,585 in the month that followed, making it the highest number of tourist arrivals recorded on a monthly basis since borders were reopened for international travel on 15 July 2020, after nearly four months since the government halted issuing on-arrival visas on 27 March 2020.

Maldives recorded a total of 64,613 tourist arrivals during May.

So far in June, Maldives has welcomed 28,732 which is 53.4 percent less than the 61,678 visitors welcomed during the same period in 2019.

The highest number of arrivals thus far this ongoing month was recorded on June 12 at 2,415. The lowest arrivals were recorded June 7, with 1,416. On Sunday Maldives welcomed 2,308 visitors, followed by 1,544 on Monday and 1,722 on Tuesday.

According to statistics, visitors are staying for an average of nine days and an average of 2,893 tourists were visiting the Maldives every day.

With arrivals from India, the top source market recorded by the Maldives since border reopening, declining due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country, Russia currently dominates the arrival market contributing 24.1 percent with 116,310 arrivals recorded by Wednesday. Russia was ranked sixth before the Covid-19 pandemic began sweeping across the globe and is followed closely by India making up 18.5 percent with 89,543 arrivals by Wednesday. Third comes Germany contributing 5.5 percent of tourist arrivals. A total of 26,542 tourist arrivals were recorded between January 1 – June 2.

Ukraine, U.S, Kazakhstan, United Kingdom, Romania, France and Czech Republic are also considered some of the biggest tourist markets for the Maldives.

The ministry revealed that tourist arrivals into the country slowed due to the restrictive measures placed during May against Covid-19. However, market rebounding progresses with growth rate stronger in comparison to the same period of 2019 and 2020. Further, the ministry added that arrivals from the East Mediterranean Europe, Middle East, Americas, and European regions are showing signs of recovery.

So far, Emirates remains the top airline to have carried passengers to the Maldives, with 98,106 between January 1 and June 16. Emirates is followed closely by Qatar Airways with 74,386 passengers. Aeroflot comes third having carried 69,848 passengers into the Maldives thus far.