Tourist arrivals from Europe have increased by 13.4% in the month of January, reveals statistics from the Ministry of Tourism.

According to the ministry's statistics, the most tourist arrivals to the country in the month of January was from Europe with 94,725 (ninety-four thousand, seven hundred and twenty-five) tourists arrivals - a 13.4% increase in comparison to January 2019.

The second most tourist arrivals were from the Asia-Pacific continent with 61,688 (sixty-one thousand six hundred and eighty-eight) tourists.

The statistics state that a total of 177,140 tourists visited the country in January this year. This includes 173,347 (one hundred seventy-three thousand three hundred forty-seven) tourists arriving via air-route and 3793 (three thousand seven hundred ninety-three) tourists arriving via sea-route.

Likewise, 8078 (eight thousand seventy-eight) tourists from the Americas and 1536 (one thousand five hundred thirty-six) tourists from the African continent visited the Maldives in the same time period.

In comparison, a total of 154,969 (one hundred fifty-four thousand nine hundred sixty-nine) tourists arrivals were recorded in January 2019 with 151552 (one hundred fifty-one thousand five hundred fifty-two) tourists arriving via air and 3417 (three thousand four hundred seventeen) tourists arriving via sea.

As such, the ministry states that tourist arrivals to the country have increased by 14.3% compared to January 2019.