Tourist arrivals soared during first half of the year: ministry
862,589 tourists arrived in the Maldives thus far this year
Minister Waheed speaking at a press conference
Tourism Ministry’s statistics have revealed that 862,589 tourists arrived in the Maldives thus far this year.
Speaking to media during the ministry’s monthly press conference, Minister Ali Waheed revealed that this is an increase of 18.7 percent compared to the same period in 2018.
726,515 tourists had arrived in Maldives up to June in 2018.
The most tourist arrivals were recorded from China at 140،265 up until June while the second most arrivals were recorded from India at 82,140. This is a 99.9 percent progress compared to previous years, said Waheed.
Other tourist arrivals were recorded from Italy at 75,736 which is a 33.7 percent increase, Germany at 69,237 which is an increase of 19.7 percent and United Kingdom at 64,792 which is a 12.6 percent increase compared to the previous year.
While the total number of arrivals have improved strikingly, Waheed said that arrivals had doubled in comparison, throughout the year except for during the beginning of the year in January.
Further, 48,825 beds were registered in the industry up until June out of which 45,772 were operated. Tourists spent an average of 6 days in the Maldives which is a progress of 14.7 percent.
While the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka were a warning for a possible impact on Maldives’ tourism, previous statistics showed that March saw 163,843 arrivals and April saw 163,114 tourist arrivals.
