January's tourist arrival figure sees 10.2 percent surge from last year
Between January 1 – 16, a total of 96,077 tourist arrivals have been recorded
Tourists at Velana International Airport (VIA)
The number of tourist arrivals recorded so far in January 2024 is 10.2 percent more than the figure recorded in the same period last year.
This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism in its latest daily statistics, publicized on Wednesday.
As such, statistics show that between January 1 – 16, a total of 96,077 tourist arrivals have been recorded.
Since the new year began, the arrival figure has seen an increase of 10.2 percent from the 87,178 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 71,877 arrivals recorded in 2022.
The daily average for 2024 so far, is 6,005 and tourists are staying for an average of eight days.
The highest number of tourist arrivals recorded on a daily basis so far this year, was on January 13, when more than 7,700 tourist arrivals were recorded.
The new year began with Italy topping the tourist arrival markets of the island nation. However, it was recently replaced by Russia, contributing 12.3 percent of the market share with 11,778 arrivals.
Russia continued to dominate the tourist arrival markets of the Maldives by the end of 2023 as well.
Italy has toppled to second spot and now contributes 11.5 percent of the market share with 11,094 arrivals recorded so far.
Although India was among the top three source markets, it was replaced by the United Kingdom within the last few days. UK contributes eight percent of the market share, with 7,672 arrivals.
Although Romania was among the top source markets, it was recently replaced by Poland.
Statistics go on to reveal that a total of 1,147 tourist facilities are currently open for services to tourists across the archipelago nation, including 176 resorts, 15 hotels, 810 guesthouses and 146 liveaboard vessels.
61,750 beds are operational across these facilities including 43,279 in resorts, 13,681 in guesthouses, 2,016 in hotels and 2,774 in liveaboard vessels.
The first tourist visitor of the new year was welcomed during a special ceremony held at Velana International Airport (VIA) in the early hours of January 1. A Benjamin Duncan Moore, the first tourist of 2024 hails from the United Kingdom and arrived in the island nation on an Emirates flight.
Welcoming the first tourist of 2024 to the Maldives, Minister of Tourism Ibrahim Faisal noted that this is a fantastic start to what promises to be another successful year for the Maldives’ tourism industry.
He expressed keen interest in diversifying and exploring additional markets to reach this year’s arrival target.
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.
