Maldives made a new daily record of tourist arrivals on Saturday.

According to the latest daily figures publicized by the Ministry of Tourism, tourist arrivals topped 6,955 on December 18.

Latest statistics go on to reveal that a total of 92,060 tourists had been welcomed into the Maldives between December 1 – 18.

During the ongoing month, an average of 5,114 daily arrivals are being maintained, with their stay period recorded at an average of seven days.

December’s arrivals so far are an increase of 99.3 percent in comparison to the same period of 2020, and a 2.4 percent increase from the arrivals recorded in the same period in 2019.

The ministry’s statistics further revealed that tourist arrivals between January 1 – December 18 were at 1,249,713 which is a 147.3 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 22.9 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.

Tourist arrivals have been bouncing back with the easing of travel restrictions as well as safety measures against Covid-19.

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.

The third highest figure was recorded in October, at 142,066 visitors.

A record-breaking total of 144,725 tourist arrivals were welcomed during November, making it the highest monthly figure recorded so far this year.

Tourist arrivals are being maintained at an average of 3,550 on a daily basis this year, with their stay period recorded at an average of eight days.

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

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 22.6 percent.

Russia follows closely at second contributing 17 percent. Third comes Germany contributing 7.1 percent.

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

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.