Maldives tourist arrivals figure sat at 960,075 by Wednesday.

This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism in its latest weekly statistics, publicized on Friday.

Statistics revealed that Maldives is inching closer to its tourist arrival target by the eighth month of the year.

The ministry revealed that between January 1 – August 3 this year, the arrival figure saw an increase of 53.3 percent compared to the same period of 2021. It is however, a decline of 4.8 percent compared to the figures recorded in 2019.

131,764 tourists were welcomed during January and 149,008 arrivals were recorded in February, followed by 150,739 arrivals in March and 145,280 during April.

In May, Maldives welcomed 125,522 tourists, while June saw 110,889 tourists arriving in the Maldives followed by 133,561 arrivals in July.

13,303 arrivals were recorded in the first three days of August. This figure is a 4.6 percent drop compared to the arrivals recorded in 2021 and a five percent drop from the figure 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 4,465. The daily average for the ongoing month, is at 4,434.

Maldives welcomed 4,563 tourists on August 1, followed by 4,159 tourist arrivals on August 2 and 4,581 on August 3.

Figures go on to reveal that India continues to top the Maldives tourist arrival markets, halfway into 2022.

As such, the ministry revealed that although Russia had maintained its position as the top source market for Maldives tourism in the past year, India has once again become the top tourist market for Maldives, contributing 14.4 percent of the total arrival figure by August 3, with 137,790 arrivals recorded from the neighboring country.

Second comes the United Kingdom, contributing 11.6 percent with 111,657 arrivals.

Coming in third is Russia contributing 10.8 percent with 103,365 arrivals.

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

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

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.

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 in 2022 since the tourism industry’s inception in 1972.