China tops Maldives' tourist arrival markets

China has topped the Maldives’ tourist arrival markets, into the second month of the new year.

This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism through its latest daily tourist arrival statistics publicized on Sunday.

As such, statistics indicate that while the new year began with Italy topping the tourist arrival markets of the island nation it was replaced by Russia for a few weeks and China currently sits at the top of the list, contributing 13.2 percent of the market share with 35,654 arrivals by February 10.

Russia dominated the tourist arrival markets of the Maldives by the end of 2023.

Italy has toppled to second spot and now contributes 9.7 percent of the market share with 26,259 arrivals recorded so far.

Russia comes third contributing 9.6 percent of the market share with 25,838 arrivals.

Although India was among the top three source markets into the beginning of the year, it was replaced by China.

Although Kazakhstan was among the top source markets, it has been replaced by Switzerland.

Statistics go on to reveal that a total of 269,588 tourist arrivals have been recorded since the new year began.

During January the country welcomed 192,385 visitors.

Between February 1 – 10, a total of 77,203 arrivals were recorded.

February’s arrivals so far are a 30.8 percent increase from the 59,027 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 45,209 arrivals recorded in 2022.

The arrival figure for this year has seen an increase of 16.4 percent from the 231,526 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 176,974 arrivals recorded in 2022.

The daily average for 2024 so far, is 6,575 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 in February 10, when more than 10,000 tourist arrivals were recorded.

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.