The number of tourists who arrived in Maldives this year as of August 30, was 1,075,637, the Ministry of Tourism has disclosed.

According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism, this is a 42.9 percent increase from the same period last year, when 752,705 arrivals were recorded. The figure was still lower during the same period in 2020, when 391,991 tourists arrived.

Despite the increasing figures , this years' arrival figure is still 4.9 percent lower, compared to the same period in 2019 , when 1,131,199 tourist arrivals were recorded .

According to the Tourism Ministry, 128,865 tourists arrived in Maldives from August 1 to 30. This is 5.6 percent lower than the pre-COVID-19 period. During the same period in 2019, 136,466 tourists arrivals were recorded .

The Ministry of Tourism said that on average, 4,296 tourists arrived in Maldives daily in August, and stayed for around eight days.

Currently, the largest number of tourists come from India. India remained the top market, accounting to 14.2 per cent of the arrivals. In 2019, the Indian market was the second top market during the period.

The second largest number of tourists came from the UK. Tourists from the UK account for 11.4 per cent.

The third largest number of tourists this year came from Russia. Tourists from Russia account for 11.4 percent, while the Russian market was the sixth largest market in 2019. In addition, the other largest tourist markets include Germany, Italy, the United States, France, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland.

Of the tourist accommodation facilities, 1,178 have been opened. The facilities have a capacity of 58,369 beds. These facilities include 164 resorts, 843 guesthouses, 156 safaris and 13 hotels.

In the years 2020 and 2021, pandemic had a major impact on tourism. This year, too, unrest in Russia and Ukraine affected tourism earlier in the year, but figures are improving as flights from the country resumed. The Ministry of Tourism hopes to improve the market by the end of this year. The country is targeting 1.6 million tourists this year.