More than 27,000 tourists were welcomed in the first week of September.

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

As such, the ministry’s figures indicate that between September 1 – 7, 27,322 tourists touched down at Velana International Airport (VIA).

Arrivals for September are a 2.6 percent drop in comparison to the 28,039 arrivals recorded in the same period last year.

However, it is higher than the 25,856 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2022.

About 3,903 tourists arrive on average every day during September and tourists stay for eight days.

The ministry’s figures go on to reveal that between January 1 – September 7, Maldives welcomed 1,386,530 tourists.

Arrivals so far this year, are a 10.2 percent increase from the 1,258,120 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 1,104,499 arrivals recorded in 2022.

The daily average for 2024 so far, is 5,524 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 February 10, when more than 10,000 tourist arrivals were recorded.

Maldives welcomed 1.8 million tourists in 2023 and aspires to welcome two million tourists this year.

Further, the ministry’s figures revealed that China remains the top source for tourist arrivals.

China sits at the top of the list of tourist source markets, contributing 14.6 percent of the market share with 202,613 arrivals by September 7.

The year began with Italy topping the tourist arrival markets of the island nation, however it was replaced by Russia for a few weeks.

Although the United Kingdom ranked second place for a while, it was replaced by Russia once more.

Russia now contributes 10.8 percent of the market share with 149,920 arrivals recorded so far.

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

UK currently ranks third place in the top 10 markets, contributing 8.6 percent of the market share with 119,189 arrivals.

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

Although Poland was included among the top 10 tourist source markets halfway into the year, it was recently replaced by Spain.

Welcoming the first tourist of 2024 to the Maldives back in January, Minister of Tourism Ibrahim Faisal noted that it was 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 the one millionth tourist of the year, six months in, on June 27.

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.