Maldives has recorded over 32,000 tourist arrivals, within the first week of September.

The Ministry of Tourism, in its latest weekly statistics revealed that arrivals recorded between September 1 – 8 is at 32,880, which is a 10.4 percent increase in comparison to the 29,787 arrivals recorded during the same period in 2019. Due to borders having been closed from March 27 – July 15 last year, only 2,300 arrivals were recorded during this period in 2020.

According to daily figures, 4,245 arrivals were recorded on the first day of the ongoing month, followed by 4,632 on September 2. The figure dropped to 3,385 the day that followed, before spiking to 4,592 the next day. 4,693 tourists arrived at Velana International Airport (VIA) on Sunday, followed by 3,812 on Monday and 3,699 on Tuesday.

By Wednesday, a total of 788,846 tourists had been welcomed since the start of the promising year, with which Maldives is inching closer to its tourist arrivals target of 1.3 million for 2021. During 2020, Maldives recorded 555,494 tourist arrivals, which was a drastic plunge from the previous year’s 1,702,887 arrivals.

Of the total arrivals figure recorded so far this year, 92,103 tourist arrivals were recorded during January and 96,882 visitors were welcomed during February. Arrivals in March were at 109,585 making it the second highest figure recorded so far in 2021. In April Maldives welcomed 91,200 arrivals, followed by 64,613 visitors in May.

The number dropped to 56,166 during the month that followed, which the ministry believed to be linked to the restrictions and precautionary measures implemented in the face of a worsening Covid-19 situation as a fourth and more infectious wave was confirmed in early May. July saw 101,818 visitors welcomed into the Maldives.

Maldives broke its monthly tourist arrivals records with figures topping 143,599 in August.

An average of 4,110 visitors are arriving in the Maldives daily in September with their stay period recorded at an average of eight days.

Tourist arrivals have begun to bounce back with the easing of travel restrictions as well as safety measures against Covid-19, with Minister of Tourism Dr. Abdulla Mausoom even revealing that India is expected to be the country’s top source market by the end of the year, despite a drastic drop in arrivals from the neighboring country in the last few months. Authorities halted issuing on arrival visas to travelers from South Asia in May. This was resumed on July 15 as announced by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Statistics indicate that tourist arrivals recorded so far this year is an increase of 100 percent in comparison to the same period last year. It is however, a 32.2 percent plunge in comparison to the over one million arrivals of 2019, a groundbreaking year for Maldives tourism.

While Russia continued to dominate the Maldives tourism markets within the first few months of the year after arrivals from India started declining following the travel restrictions imposed on visitors from South Asia back in May as the Covid-19 situation in the region worsened, India has once again topped the charts and currently dominates the tourism markets with 172,104 arrivals recorded by Wednesday. India makes up 21.8 percent of the arrivals.

Russia follows closely at its tail contributing 20.6 percent with 162,801 arrivals. Third comes Germany contributing 5.9 percent with 46,218.

United States, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Kingdom, Kazakhstan and France are also considered some of the biggest tourist markets for the Maldives.

Maldives exceeded last year’s total during July this year and the ministry notes that the country’s arrival rate is gaining momentum as restrictions placed in the face of Covid-19, have been eased.

Maldives is gearing up to mark 50 years since the tourism industry’s inception, in 2022, which is to be celebrated as the golden year of tourism in Maldives.