Velana International Airport (VIA) recorded 1,160 tourist arrivals on Friday alone.

In an appearance on RaajjeTV’s ‘Fashaairu’ morning show, VIA’s General Manager of terminal operations Ibrahim Hussain revealed that a total of 133 passengers had departed the same day.

345 out of the total number of arrivals were from an Aeroflot flight.

Shedding light on domestic operations, Hussain stated that 11 flights were operated on Friday, nine Maldivian flights and two flights from Flyme.

200 domestic arrivals were recorded that day while 251 domestic passengers departed from VIA.

The country’s national airline, Maldivian began operating direct flights to Dhaka, Bangladesh during September. Three weekly flights are being operated and on Friday, 129 Bangladeshi nationals departed through Maldivian.

Noting that three jets were also operated on Friday, Hussain revealed that two were from the United Arab Emirates and one from Qatar-Doha to Hulhulé island.

Hussain went on to reveal that 44.91 tonnes of goods were imported to Maldives the same day and 37.27 tonnes of goods were exported as well.

Since border reopening Maldives has recorded over 30,000 arrivals.

With the re-opening of borders on July 15, the tourism industry has begun flourishing “at a steady pace” and the country’s tourism minister, Dr. Abdulla Mausoom has revealed that Maldives is expecting over 100,000 tourist arrivals for the remainder of the ongoing year.

The government has approved the license for over 80 tourist resorts to operate and currently, over 25,000 beds are operational.