The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has revealed India as the country that Maldivians traveled for medical care the most in 2017, with Sri Lanka being the top travelled country for leisure.

According to 2017's Maldivians Travelling Abroad (MTA) survey- that records the findings on the purpose of travel, destination and expenditure of Maldivian travelers publicized by the authority at the end of 2017- the authority had surveyed 4,220 of the 6,943 Maldivians that arrived in 2017.

The web-based questionnaire statistics show that most Maldivians had travelled out of the country for medical purposes. As such, while 1,889 Maldivians had travelled for medical treatment, 1,396 Maldivians had travelled for leisure. Maldivians who travelled for education and training were recorded at 160 and 122 had travelled for business and official purposes. Statistics further show that 653 Maldivians had travelled out of Maldives for other purposes.

4,488 travelers had partaken in the survey in 2016 while 3,861 had partaken in it in 2015.

MMA's statistics show that Maldivians travelling for vacation in 2017 had increased by one percent compared to the same purpose the previous year whereas the amount of Maldivians travelling for medical purposes decreased compared to 2016.

As such, 1,233 (65%) Maldivians had travelled to India, 493 (26%) had travelled to Sri Lanka and 122 (6%) had travelled to Thailand for medical purposes. Maldivians had also travelled to Singapore and Malaysia for medical purposes.

Average duration of stay of medical travelers to Malaysia was recorded at 19 days, while in Singapore, it was recorded at 14 days and 13 days in India.

The highest expenditure per trip in US Dollars was recorded from Singapore, with Maldivians having spent an average of USD 2,500 there, USD 1,320 in Malaysia and USD 1,359 in Thailand whereas the least expenditure was recorded at an average of USD 500 in Sri Lanka and USD 687 in India.

Furthermore, the statistics shows that most Maldivians travelled to Sri Lanka on vacation trips. As such, 40% of the people who partook in the survey travelled to Sri Lanka for vacation with Malaysia and Thailand coming in at second and third respectively.