China has reaffirmed its position as the top source of tourists to the Maldives, driving a significant surge in arrivals and reinforcing its influence on the island nation's tourism economy.

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

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 by the fifth 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. China contributes 11.4 percent of the market share with 101,814 arrivals.

China sat at the top of the list of tourist source markets by the end of 2024 as well.

Russia sits at second place on the list contributing 10.8 percent of the market share with 96,192 arrivals recorded by Tuesday.

The United Kingdom comes third contributing 10.3 percent of the market share with 92,436 arrivals.

Further, between January 1 and May 12, 893,575 tourists arrived in the Maldives. This is an 8.1 percent surge in comparison to the 826,582 arrivals recorded in 2024 and much higher than the 739,241 arrivals recorded in 2023.

Between May 1 – 12, 62,831 tourists were welcomed at Velana International Airport (VIA). This is a 15.9 percent increase from the 54,212 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2024 and much higher than the 50,956 arrivals recorded the previous year.

The ministry’s statistics go on to reveal that 633,977 out of the 893,575 visitors that were recorded by Tuesday stayed at resorts. This makes up 70.9 percent of the total arrivals. 210,265 tourists make up 23.5 percent of the tourists who stayed at guesthouses, 26,433 tourists make up three percent of the tourists who stayed at hotels, 22,318 tourists make up 2.5 percent of the tourists who stayed at liveaboard vessels and 583 who stayed at other facilities during this period.

The statistics go on to reveal that about 6,931 tourists arrived on average every day during January, 7,646 in February, 6,563 in March and 6,611 tourists arrived on average during April. 5,236 tourists are arriving on average every day during May.

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 island nation 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.