Tourist arrival figure for November exceeds 100,000

Tourist arrivals recorded so far in November, have surpassed the 100,000-mark.

Latest daily statistics publicized by the Ministry of Tourism on Tuesday, reveal that a total of 102,633 tourists were welcomed between November 1 – 21.

This is the 11th month of the year where more than 100,000 tourist arrivals have been recorded.

According to the tourism ministry’s latest weekly figures publicized on November 17, Maldives has welcomed a total of 1,446,990 tourists which is an increase of 30 percent from 2021 but a 2.8 percent decline from 2019.

The total arrival figure so far this year, includes 131,764 tourists welcomed during January, 149,008 tourist arrivals during February, 150,739 tourists welcomed during March and 145,280 tourists welcomed during April. 125,522 tourists were welcomed during May followed by 110,889 tourists in June and 133,561 tourists welcomed during July. In August, Maldives welcomed 131,862 tourists, followed by 111,986 in September.

In October, the archipelago nation observed 153,737 arrivals.

So far in November, arrivals remain 7.4 percent higher than the figure recorded in the same period of 2019 and 2.7 percent more than the same period of 2021.

The highest tourist arrivals figure during the month was recorded on November 12, when more than 5,600 visitors were welcomed.

This means that Maldives is inching closer to its tourist arrival target for the promising year. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in his presidential address on February 3, revealed that Maldives aims to welcome 1.6 million tourists this year. Maldives welcomed its one millionth tourist of the year on August 13.

Weekly figures revealed that India remains the top source market for the archipelago nation’s tourism.

India is the top tourist market for Maldives, contributing 14 percent of the total arrival figure as of November 16 with a total of 199,219 arrivals recorded from the neighboring country.

Second comes Russia, contributing 12.3 percent with 174,601 arrivals.

Coming in third is the United Kingdom contributing 10.9 percent with 155,018 arrivals.

2020 was a sluggish year for Maldives tourism due to the numerous safety precautions implemented in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, alongside border closure. Tourist arrivals began to bounce back with the easing of travel restrictions as well as safety measures against Covid-19 in 2021.

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.

Tourism was introduced in the Maldives in 1972.