The tourist arrival figure has topped 1,699,224.
This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism through its latest weekly tourist arrival statistics publicized on November 7.
The ministry’s statistics reveal that between November 1 and 7, a total of 34,576 visitors touched down at Velana International Airport (VIA).
The arrival figure for November is a 9.8 percent increase in comparison to the 31,504 arrivals recorded in the same period last year and a lot more than the 30,205 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2022.
About 5,763 tourists are arriving on average every day during November, and tourists are staying for eight days.
Arrivals so far this year are a 9.5 percent increase from the 1,551,693 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 1,374,571 arrivals recorded in 2022.
The daily average for 2024 so far is 5,464 and tourists are staying for an average of eight days.
China remains the top source for tourist arrivals, proving a growing demand for travel to the island nation in the eastern Asian region.
China sits at the top of the list of tourist source markets, contributing 14.2 percent of the market share with 241,873 arrivals by November 7.
Russia contributes 11.2 percent of the market share with 189,975 arrivals recorded so far.
UK currently ranks third place in the top 10 markets, contributing 8.6 percent of the market share with 146,308 arrivals.
Other top tourist markets so far in 2024 are:
- Germany contributing 7.6 percent with 129,985 arrivals
- Italy contributing 6.8 percent with 116,312 arrivals
- India contributing 6.1 percent with 103,989 arrivals
- United States contributing 3.3 percent with 56,643 arrivals
- France contributing 2.7 percent with 45,287 arrivals
- Spain contributing 2.4 percent with 40,081 arrivals
- Switzerland contributing two percent with 33,471 arrivals
Maldives welcomed 1.8 million tourists in 2023 and aspires to welcome two million tourists this year.
