More than 33,000 tourists have arrived in the Maldives within the first few days of December.

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

As such, statistics reveal that Maldives welcomed a total of 33,022 tourists from December 1 – 6.

This means that the archipelago nation is just a little less than 100,000 tourists shy of meeting its tourist arrival target for the concluding 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.

The highest tourist arrivals figure so far this month was recorded on December 3, when more than 6,000 visitors were welcomed.

December’s figure is an increase of 6.1 percent from the previous year and a 14.5 percent increase from 2019’s figure in the same period.

The daily average for this year remains at 4,564 and tourists are staying in the Maldives for an average of eight days.

Further, the ministry’s figures go on to reveal that Maldives has welcomed a total of 1,524,265 tourists between January 1 – December 6. This is an increase of 28.2 percent from 2021 but a 2.3 percent decline from 2019.

This means that Maldives is inching closer to its tourist arrival target for the promising year.

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.

Maldives welcomed a total of 146,886 tourists during November.

The statistics go on to reveal that India remains the top source market for the archipelago nation’s tourism as the year draws closer to ending.

As such, India is the top tourist market for Maldives, contributing 14.1 percent of the total arrival figure as of December 6.

Second comes Russia, contributing 12.2 percent.

Coming in third is the United Kingdom contributing 10.8 percent.

The statistics reveal that arrivals from the South Korean market have been increasing over recent days.

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.