As demand from Chinese visitors grows, an additional Chinese airline has decided to begin operating flights to the Maldives.

Two Chinese airlines already fly to the Maldives. They are China Eastern and Capital Airlines. In addition to these two airlines, Sichuan Airlines, the largest airline in the western region of the country, has decided to start flights to the Maldives.

Sichuan Airlines states that the airline will be commencing their flights to Maldives on 29 August.

According to the airline, three flights will be scheduled each week. They will be using A320 aircrafts.

Sichuan Airlines notes that the decision to commence flights to the Maldives was made due to the increase in demand to the Maldives among Chinese travelers.

According to the statistics publicized by the Ministry of Tourism, China is the fourth top tourist market for Maldives, contributing 7.9 percent with 80,769 arrivals.

The Chinese market consistently topped the arrival charts to the Maldives prior to 2020, when the nation closed for approximately three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, China was the top source market with 284,029 arrivals, which was 16.7 percent of the year's total arrival fugure. This number fell greatly in 2020, to 6th place with 34,245 arrivals, and fell even further over the next two years.

The first direct flight from China, after nearly three years, arrived in Maldives on 18 January, 2022.

The first flight was from Beijing Daxing International Airport. The flight JD455, touched down at Velana International Airport with 198 tourists.

Maldives is expected to record 1.9 million tourist arrivals by year-end.

Maldives welcomed its one millionth tourist of the ongoing year on July 16, with the arrival of a Russian national who resides in the United Kingdom, who arrived on vacation with his spouse and toddler. Anton Pavlov flew in on British Airways and was given a warm welcome at Velana International Airport (VIA). 

Since the new year began, a total of 1,016,719 tourists have touched down in the archipelago nation.

Monthly figures show that 172,499 tourists were welcomed during January, 177,915 in February, 173,514 in March, 164,357 in April, 120,959 in May and 120,363 during June.

Although the figures dropped in May and June, it was still higher than 100,000 arrivals.

The arrival figure for the ongoing month is a 4.4 percent surge compared to the 83,406 arrivals recorded in the same period last year and much higher than the 57,652 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2021. The highest daily arrivals so far, this ongoing month, was recorded on July 9, with more than 5,300 arrivals.

The daily average for July is 4,585 and tourists are staying for an average of seven days. The ministry earlier predicted that an average of 4,300 tourists will be recorded on a daily basis, in July.

This year’s arrival figure is an increase of 13.4 percent from the 896,625 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 568,201 arrivals recorded in 2021.

The daily average for 2023 is at 5,084 and tourists are staying in the Maldives for an average of seven days.

Statistics indicate that so far this year, nearly 200,000 visitors have been touching down in the Maldives on a monthly basis.