More than 44,000 tourists have been welcomed so far in October.
This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism through its latest weekly tourist arrival statistics publicized on Thursday.
As such, the ministry revealed that between October 1 – 9, a total of 44,700 visitors touched down at Velana International Airport (VIA).
The arrival figure for October is a 3.3 percent increase in comparison to the 43,273 arrivals recorded in the same period last year and a lot more than the 42,447 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2022.
About 4,967 tourists are arriving on average every day during October and tourists are staying for eight days.
Looking at the daily arrivals for October
- 5,401 tourists were welcomed on October 1
- 5,434 tourists were welcomed on October 2
- 4,899 tourists were welcomed on October 3
- 4,506 tourists were welcomed on October 4
- 4,808 tourists were welcomed on October 5
- 5,553 tourists were welcomed on October 6
- 4,543 tourists were welcomed on October 7
- 4,536 tourists were welcomed on October 8
- 5,020 tourists were welcomed on October 9
The ministry went on to reveal that between January 1 – October 9, Maldives welcomed 1,536,727 tourists.
Arrivals so far this year, are a 9.4 percent increase from the 1,404,321 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 1,233,076 arrivals recorded in 2022.
The daily average for 2024 so far, is 5,430 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.
Tourist arrivals for this year include:
- 192,385 visitors welcomed during January
- 217,392 visitors welcomed during February
- 194,227 visitors welcomed during March
- 168,366 visitors welcomed during April
- 119,875 visitors welcomed during May
- 123,284 visitors welcomed during June
- 167,528 visitors welcomed during July
- 176,175 visitors welcomed during August
- 132,795 visitors welcomed during September
Further, the ministry revealed that China remains the top source for tourist arrivals, as the ninth month of the year draws to an end.
As such, the ministry’s figures indicate that China remains the top source for tourist arrivals.
China sits at the top of the list of tourist source markets, contributing 14.9 percent of the market share with 229,691 arrivals by October 9.
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 10.9 percent of the market share with 167,964 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 8.4 percent of the market share with 129,309 arrivals.
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:
- Germany contributing 7.3 percent with 112,047 arrivals
- Italy contributing 7.1 percent with 108,586 arrivals
- India contributing 6.1 percent with 93,232 arrivals
- United States contributing 3.4 percent with 51,903 arrivals
- France contributing 2.7 percent with 41,667 arrivals
- Spain contributing 2.3 percent with 35,649 arrivals
- Switzerland contributing 1.9 percent with 29,496 arrivals
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.
