India tops Maldives tourist arrival markets halfway through 2023!

India has once again become the top tourist market for Maldives, halfway through 2023.

This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism in its latest daily statistics, publicized on June 5.

The neighboring country overtook Russia, which was the frontrunner among the tourism markets with the highest number of tourist arrivals into the first few months of the year. 2022 ended with the neighboring country as the top source market for Maldives tourism.

Statistics revealed that India has topped the source markets for the archipelago nation’s tourism, contributing 11.7 percent of the market share with 96,442 arrivals recorded from the country by June 4 while Russia toppled to the second spot with 96,352.

United Kingdom sits in third contributing nine percent with 74,235 arrivals.

Statistics go on to reveal that since the new year began, Maldives has welcomed a total of 825,238 visitors.

This includes 172,499 tourists welcomed during January, 177,915 tourists welcomed in the following month, 173,514 tourist arrivals in March followed by 164,357 in April.

During May, Maldives welcomed 120,960 tourists.

A total of 15,993 visitors were recorded at Velana International Airport (VIA) between June 1 – 4.

The arrival figure for the ongoing month is a five percent increase compared to the 15,230 arrivals recorded in the same period last year and much higher than the 6,582 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2021.

According to the ministry, this year’s arrival figure is an increase of 15 percent from the 717,562 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 460,965 arrivals recorded in 2021.

The daily average for this year is at 5,502 and tourists are staying in the Maldives for an average of eight days.

This comes at a time the Ministry of Finance has revealed that Maldives is expected to record 1.9 million tourist arrivals by year-end.

The government launched its fifth tourism master plan which places high priority in achieving the target noted including increasing bed nights. The tourism master plan carries the purpose of developing the tourism sector and increasing services provided to tourists by the country.

The government also plans to expand tourism across the scatter of islands comprising the Maldives.

In his presidential address this year, delivered at the People’s Majlis on 6 February 2023, President Solih stated that the Maldives will be welcoming 3.5 million tourists, annually, by 2028.

Tourism was introduced in the Maldives in 1972. 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.