China continues to top the tourist arrival markets of Maldives into the third month of the year.

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

As such, the ministry’s statistics show that China has remained the leader in tourist arrivals to the Maldives with no signs of slowing down, dominating the top source markets for the second consecutive month of the year.

As such, the ministry’s statistics revealed that although Russia topped the tourist source markets into the third week of January, it was replaced by China into the last week of January.

China has topped the leading source of tourists since then. The ministry’s figures revealed that as 2025 commenced Russia topped the tourist source markets, however, it has since been replaced by China, contributing 12.8 percent of the market share with 62,527 arrivals.

China sat at the top of the list of tourist source markets by the end of 2024 as well. 2024 began with Italy topping the tourist arrival markets of the island nation; however, it was replaced by Russia for a few weeks and then by China for the remainder of the year.

Although Italy ranked second place for a few weeks since the new year began, Russia now sits at second place on the list. Russia ranks second place contributing 10.1 percent of the market share with 49,433 arrivals recorded by Monday.

UK comes third contributing 10 percent of the market share with 49,126 arrivals.

Although Austria topped the tourist source markets by the end of January, it has since been replaced by Switzerland on the list of top 10 markets.

Further, the ministry’s latest figures show that between January 1 and March 9, 488,878 tourists arrived in the Maldives. This is a 4.8 percent surge in comparison to the 466,273 arrivals recorded in 2024 and much higher than the 404,898 arrivals recorded in 2023.

337,595 out of the 488,878 visitors that were recorded by Monday stayed at resorts. This makes up 69.1 percent. 125,073 tourists make up 25.6 percent of the tourists who stayed at guesthouses, 13,884 tourists make up 2.8 percent of the tourists who stayed at hotels, 12,037 tourists make up 2.5 percent of the tourists who stayed at liveaboard vessels and 283 who stayed at other facilities during this period.

Further, between March 1 – 9, 59,924 visitors were recorded, marking a 6.1 percent surge from the 56,496 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2024. It is a lot higher than the 54,484 arrivals recorded in 2023.

According to the ministry, 214,863 tourist arrivals were recorded between January 1 – 31.

This was an 11.7 percent surge in comparison to the 192,385 arrivals recorded in the same period last year and much higher than the 172,499 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2023.

In February, Maldives welcomed 214,091 tourists. This figure is a 1.5 percent decline from the 217,392 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2024. However, it is higher than the 177,915 arrivals recorded in 2023.

About 6,931 tourists arrived on average every day during January and 7,646 in February.

6,658 tourists are arriving on average every day during March.

Presently, 1,173 tourist accommodation establishments are operational across the Maldives, including 175 resorts, 15 hotels, 826 guesthouses and 157 liveaboard vessels. 62,097 beds are operational across these facilities including 42,967 in resorts, 2,032 in hotels, 13,954 in guesthouses and 3,144 in safari vessels. Maldives has a total capacity of 1,177 tourist facilities including 179 resorts, 15 hotels, 826 guesthouses and 157 liveaboard vessels. This means that four resorts remain inoperative. Guesthouses are operational across 111 islands of 20 atolls, resorts are operational across 175 islands of 19 atolls and hotels are operational across nine islands of eight atolls.

Maldives welcomed 2,046,615 visitors in 2024. In 2023, 1,878,543 tourist arrivals were recorded.

A true jewel of the Indian Ocean, Maldives has been dazzling among passionate travelers since tourism was introduced in the Maldives in 1972. It is going to be 53 years since the island paradise has been enchanting travelers from around the globe with its unrivaled hospitality and picturesque beauty.