Arrival figure for March, five percent surge from last year
63,140 arrivals have been recorded from China so far
Tourists at the departure gate at Velana International Airport (VIA)
The tourist arrival figure for March 2024, has seen a 5.2 percent surge from the same period of 2023.
This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism through its latest daily tourist arrival statistics publicized on Sunday.
Between March 1 – 23, a total of 140,155 tourists were welcomed at Velana International Airport (VIA). This, the ministry said is an increase of 5.2 percent from the 133,222 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 113,428 arrivals recorded in 2022.
About 6,094 tourists are arriving on average every day during this month, and tourists are staying in the Maldives for eight days.
Since the new year began, Maldives has welcomed a total of 549,932 visitors.
During January the country welcomed 192,385 visitors, followed by 217,392 in February.
The ministry revealed that arrivals so far this year, are a 13.7 percent increase from the 483,636 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 394,204 arrivals recorded in 2022.
The daily average for 2024 so far, is 6,626 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.
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 11.5 percent of the market share with 63,140 arrivals by March 23.
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 10.4 percent of the market share with 57,157 arrivals.
Italy has toppled to third spot and now contributes 9.5 percent of the market share with 52,240 arrivals recorded so far.
Although India was among the top three source markets into the beginning of the year, it was replaced by China.
Statistics go on to reveal that a total of 1,174 tourist facilities are currently open for services to tourists across the archipelago nation, including 175 resorts, 15 hotels, 837 guesthouses and 147 liveaboard vessels.
62,140 beds are operational across these facilities including 43,192 in resorts, 14,097 in guesthouses, 2,016 in hotels and 2,835 in liveaboard vessels.
The first tourist visitor of the new year was welcomed during a special ceremony held at VIA in the early hours of January 1.
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. Maldives welcomed 1.8 million tourists in 2023 and aspires to welcome two million tourists this year.
Tourism was introduced in the Maldives in 1972. It has been 52 years since zealous travelers have been visiting the Maldives which has been drawing in visitors with its picturesque beauty for years.
