Maldives records over 400,000 tourist arrivals; 26,720 since borders reopened

Over 400,000 tourists have arrived in the Maldives thus far in 2020, with about 26,000 having arrived since borders reopened in July.

The island nation, highly dependent on tourism, closed its borders on March 27 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and reopened nearly four months later on July 15.

According to statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism, a total of 26,720 tourists visited the country by October 14.

This includes 1,752 visitors from 15 - 31 July, as well as 7,628 visitors in August and 9,538 in September.

Further, there have been 7,853 arrivals from 1 - 14 October.

With the 382,760 arrivals recorded by March, a total of 409,567 tourists have visited the country this year.

While the country had attempted to increase tourist arrivals to two million this year, from the record 1.7 million in 2019, expected arrivals have reduced significantly following the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, experts in the field project the current numbers to double towards the end of the year, which is described as “peak season” in the tourism industry.

As tourist arrivals continue to increase gradually, guesthouses in residential islands were allowed restart operations on Thursday; they have been closed since March 17.