The tourist arrival figure recorded so far this year has exceeded the 448,000-mark.
This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism through its latest weekly tourist arrival statistics publicized on Thursday.
As such, the ministry revealed that since the new year began, Maldives has welcomed a total of 448,794 visitors.
The arrival figure for this year has seen an increase of 15.7 percent from the 387,902 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 312,036 arrivals recorded in 2022.
The daily average for 2024 so far, is 6,735 and tourists are staying for an average of eight days.
Between March 1 – 6, a total of 39,017 tourists touched down at Velana International Airport (VIA).
The arrival figure for March is a 4.1 percent increase from the 37,488 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 31,260 arrivals recorded in 2022.
During January the country welcomed 192,385 visitors, followed by 217,392 arrivals in February.
Looking at the daily arrivals for March:
- 6,366 tourists were welcomed on March 1
- 7,718 tourists were welcomed on March 2
- 7,141 tourists were welcomed on March 3
- 6,093 tourists were welcomed on March 4
- 6,033 tourists were welcomed on March 5
- 5,666 tourists were welcomed on March 6
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.
Statistics go on to 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 12.5 percent of the market share with 56,181 arrivals by March 6.
Russia dominated the tourist arrival markets of the Maldives by the end of 2023 and currently ranks second place in the top 10 markets, contributing 9.9 percent of the market share with 44,222 arrivals.
Italy has toppled to third spot and now contributes 9.5 percent of the market share with 42,770 arrivals recorded so far.
Although India was among the top three source markets into the beginning of the year, it was replaced by China.
Other top tourist markets so far in 2024 are:
- United Kingdom contributing nine percent with 40,448 arrivals
- Germany contributing 6.5 percent with 29,196 arrivals
- India contributing 6.3 percent with 28,298 arrivals
- France contributing 4.1 percent with 18,365 arrivals
- United States contributing 3.2 percent with 14,405 arrivals
- Poland contributing 2.5 percent with 11,078 arrivals
- Switzerland contributing 2.3 percent with 10,120 arrivals
Although Kazakhstan was among the top source markets, it has been replaced by Switzerland.
The first tourist visitor of the new year was welcomed during a special ceremony held at 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.
