Maldives welcomed 172,536 tourists in the first month of 2023

Maldives welcomed a total of 172,536 tourists in the first month of 2023.

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

Since the new year began, Maldives has welcomed a total of 178,159 visitors. This includes 172,536 tourists welcomed during January and 5,623 tourists welcomed on February 1.

According to the ministry, this figure is an increase of 30.9 percent from the 136,146 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant increase from the 94,261 arrivals recorded in 2021.

In January, the highest daily arrivals were recorded on January 22, when more than 7,000 visitors were welcomed at Velana International Airport (VIA).

The daily average for the newly commenced year is at 5,567 and tourists are staying in the Maldives for an average of eight days.

The statistics go on to reveal that Russia has topped the source market for the archipelago nation’s tourism, contributing 13.6 percent of the market share with 24,154 arrivals recorded from the country so far.

Although the country ranked third since the beginning of the year, India has climbed up to the second position contributing 10.9 percent with 19,390 arrivals. 2022 ended with the neighboring country as the top source market for Maldives tourism.

Coming in third is Italy contributing 9.6 percent with 17,159 arrivals.

Although Kazakhstan and South Korea were among the top source markets of Maldives tourism by the end of January, the two countries have been knocked off the list.

The archipelago nation welcomed its first tourist visitor of the new year with a special ceremony held at Velana International Airport (VIA) for Nikolai Stratichuk from Russia, who arrived with his family on his first-ever visit to Maldives.

Due to the numerous safety precautions implemented in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, alongside border closure, 2020 was a sluggish year for Maldives tourism. However 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.

In 2022, Maldives welcomed 1,675,285 tourists. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in his presidential address on 3 February 2022, revealed that Maldives aimed to welcome 1.6 million tourists in 2022.  The island nation reached its target with the combined efforts of relevant government agencies, the private sector, and industry stakeholders.

The golden jubilee year of tourism held a record of milestones related to the tourism sector. As such, Maldives was crowned the World’s Leading Destination three times in a row last year.

Minister of Tourism, Dr. Abdulla Mausoom noted that this quick rebound of Maldives tourism to pre-pandemic level is a clear indication of the visionary leadership of President Solih, sound tourism policies and the strong partnership between the government and the private sector.

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.