Maldives has broken its monthly tourist arrivals record once again, with arrivals having topped 144,000 in November.

According to the latest figures publicized by the Ministry of Tourism, a record-breaking total of 144,725 tourist arrivals were welcomed during the past month.

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. 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 first broke its monthly tourist arrivals records with figures topping 143,599 in August. It now stands the second highest figure. In September, Maldives welcomed 114,896 tourists, making it the fourth highest figure recorded so far in 2021. The third highest figure was recorded in October, at 142,066 visitors.

4,772 tourists were welcomed into Maldives on December 1.

Tourist arrivals between January 1 – December 1 were at 1,162,425 which is a 152.1 percent increase from the arrivals recorded in 2020, a sluggish year for Maldives tourism due to border-closure. However, 2021’s arrivals so far are a decrease of 24.4 percent in comparison to the arrivals recorded during the same period in 2019, a groundbreaking year for Maldives tourism.

With this, Maldives is inching closer to its tourist arrival target of 1.3 million.

The tourist arrivals figure recorded on the first day of December is a 29.3 percent decline from the same period in 2019 and a 153 percent increase from 2020.

Tourist arrivals are being maintained at an average of 3,470 on a daily basis this year, with their stay period recorded at an average of nine days.

Maldives crossed the one millionth tourist arrival target for the year on October 29.

A colorful celebration was held at the airport to welcome the one millionth tourist of the year. Minister of Tourism Dr. Abdulla Mausoom revealed that yet another page of the remarkable success story of Maldives tourism had been turned with the milestone. He added that reaching the milestone two months ahead was a remarkable achievement, further adding that the success would not have been possible without the support from the government, industry partners and employees as well as health professionals, local councils, related ministries and authorities.

At a time the tourism minister had revealed that arrivals from India are expected to grow to top the markets by the end of the year, India remains top source market for Maldives tourism currently dominating 22.5 percent with 261,164 arrivals.

Russia follows closely at second contributing 17.7 percent with 205,246 tourists. Third comes Germany contributing 7.2 percent with 83,817 arrivals.

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

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.