Tourist arrivals for golden jubilee year cross 400,000 by March-end

Tourist arrivals so far in the Golden Jubilee Year of Tourism in the Maldives, have exceeded the 400,000-mark.

This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism in its most recent statistics publicized on Friday.

The statistics revealed that the country saw 427,677 arrivals between January 1 – March 30, of which 131,764 tourists were welcomed during January and 149,008 arrivals were recorded in February.

In March, Maldives welcomed 146,905 tourists, which was a 37.9 percent increase from the arrivals recorded in the same period of 2021. It is however, a 6.2 percent decline from the arrivals recorded from March 1 – March 30 of 2019.

In addition to this, the total arrival figure so far this year is a 44.7 percent increase in comparison to the arrivals recorded in 2021. It his however, a 10.3 percent decrease from the arrivals recorded in the same period of 2019.

The statistics go on to indicate that tourists are staying in the Maldives for an average of eight days this promising year, with daily arrivals being maintained at an average of 4,805.

Although India was the top source market for Maldives tourism by the end of 2021, the neighboring country currently ranks third in the top 10 markets for the Golden Jubilee of Tourism year.

Russia contributes the greatest number of arrivals to the Maldives so far, with 52,081 arrivals having been recorded from the country between January 1 – March 30. The country boasts 12.2 percent of the arrival count.

Following at Russia’s tail is the United Kingdom with 49,555 visitors and contributing 11.6 percent.

India ranks third contributing 10.8 percent with 46,154 arrivals.

Although Ukraine was included among the top 10 markets for Maldives tourism earlier, it has since been replaced by Austria. Arrivals from Ukraine have been plummeting due to the ongoing conflict.  

Before coronavirus began sweeping across the globe, the top 10 markets for Maldives tourism in 2019 were China, India, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia, France, United States, Japan and Australia.

During 2020, Maldives recorded 555,494 tourist arrivals, which was a drastic plunge from the previous year’s 1,702,887 arrivals. Maldives met its tourist arrival target for 2021 in late December and welcomed a total of 1,321,932 tourists by the end of the year.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in his presidential address on February 3, revealed that Maldives aims to welcome 1.6 million tourists this year.

The ministry at the beginning of the year facilitated the introduction of Homestay in the Maldives as well, with the first of its kind launched in Dhiggaru island of Meemu atoll.

This came under the president’s tourism development vision and policy to make tourism and its benefits to the island communities, accessible.

It has been 50 years since zealous travelers have been visiting the Maldives which has been drawing in visitors with its picturesque beauty for years. Maldives marks 50 years since the tourism industry’s inception, in 2022, dubbed the golden year of tourism in Maldives.

Minister of Tourism, Dr. Abdulla Mausoom earlier revealed that Maldives aims to win the World Leading Destination Award during the golden jubilee year as well and expressed hope to reach newer heights in the tourism success story with the inception of the Homestay tourism.

Maldives also won the Most Preferred Tourist Destination 2021 at the Global MICE Congress and Awards 2022 held in March. At the awards, Maldives one the award of the Most Preferred Tourist Destination 2021 and Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) won the award for the “Best Marketing Initiative of the year”.

This comes at a time MMPRC has launched promotional activities and campaigns for the targeted audiences as well as the glove, to boost the success of the MICE Industry in Maldives.

As such, they have taken part in multiple large tourism fairs in India so far in 2022, having joined the source markets for MICE travelers, and have partnered with relevant and prominent industry partners from India for joint-campaigns.

The company’s marketing strategies have increased the tourist arrival rate in the Maldives, with MMPRC securing several key industry honors for Maldives in the past few years. As such, Maldives won 29 awards and accolades in 2019, 16 in 2020 and 35 in accolades during 2021.