Maldives sees over 16,000 tourist arrivals since border reopening

Over 16,000 tourist arrivals have been recorded since Maldives reopened borders for international travel.

According to statistics, a total of 16,405 tourist arrivals were reported from July 15 – September 23.

Overall Maldives recorded 399,252 tourist arrivals so far this year.

While the average tourist arrivals during July was 100 per day, this increased to 218 tourist arrivals on an average per day during August. Within the first 15 days of September, the number ranged from 200 – 400. From September 1 – 23, a total of 7,076 arrivals were recorded.

The United Arab Emirates remains the top source market for tourism since Maldives reopened borders, some others that follow include Russia, United States of America, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France, Brazil, Ukraine and Egypt.

Velana International Airport earlier revealed that the highest tourist arrivals were recorded on September 18, at 708, mostly from Russia.

Maldives responded to the escalating situation of Covid-19 by shutting down borders on March 27 following which the country’s tourism industry was at a complete standstill for over three months. The government reopened borders on July 15 under the third phase of the lockdown ease plan implemented on May 29.

Maldives has been implementing numerous measures against the virus, having implemented a full lockdown in the Greater Malé Region on April 15. Nearly four months later, the authorities began easing the lockdown, proven to be an effective method to reduce the daily cases being reported. Once the government entered the third phase of lockdown easing, daily cases being reported began soaring and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) was forced to re-introduce a curfew period effective from 10pm to 5am. As part of the efforts to further control the spread of the virus, authorities also implemented a restriction of vehicle movement from 8pm to 5am.