Maldives tourist arrivals figure tops 890,363

Maldives tourist arrivals figure has topped 890,363.

The Ministry of Tourism, through its latest daily statistics publicized on Wednesday, revealed that the figure crossed 890,000 by Tuesday, with 19,501 visitors having been welcomed at Velana International Airport (VIA) so far in October.

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.

In September, Maldives welcomed 114,896 tourists.

The highest daily arrivals this ongoing month have been recorded on Sunday, when 5,050 visitors arrived in Maldives. On Monday Maldives saw 3,288 tourist arrivals, followed by 3,012 on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, arrivals so far this year is an increase of 119.9 percent comparing to 2020, however, it is a decline of 30.2 percent in comparison to the over one million arrivals recorded in 2019, a groundbreaking year for Maldives tourism.

Based on the tourism ministry’s statistics, an average of 3,203 tourists are visiting the Maldives every day this concluding month, with their average stay period recorded at nine days.

As the country inches closer to its tourist arrival target of 1.3 million for the year, the ministry revealed that neighboring India remains the top source market for Maldives tourism, contributing 23 percent of the total arrival figure.

While Russia continued to dominate the Maldives’ tourism markets within the first few months of the year after arrivals from India started declining, it currently ranks second contributing 19.7 percent of the total arrivals. Third comes Germany contributing 6.3 percent of the total arrival figure.

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

By country of residence, Russia tops the chart with 98.7 percent of arrivals contributed by Russian nationals. Second comes India with 98 percent of arrivals having been nationals of India, followed by 90.4 percent contributed by Germans.

Tourist arrivals have begun to bounce back with the easing of travel restrictions as well as safety measures against Covid-19.

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.

During 2020, Maldives recorded 555,494 tourist arrivals, which was a drastic plunge from the previous year’s 1,702,887 arrivals.