Maldives tourist arrivals since border reopening exceed 37,000

Maldives tourist arrivals since border reopening, have exceeded 37,000.

Statistics publicized by the Ministry of Tourism regarding updates on the Covid-19 situation in the Maldives, on Thursday, reveal that a total of 37,468 tourists arrived in the Maldives since the government reopened borders for international travel on July 15, to October 28.

In total, Maldives recorded 420,315 arrivals during 2020 up until Wednesday.

Statistics go on to reveal that the top source market for tourism is Russia with 7,507 arrivals which accounts to 21.2 percent of arrivals. Russia is followed by the United Arab Emirates with 3,479 arrivals and the United States of America with 3,056. Other top source markets include the United Kingdom with 2,923 arrivals, France with 1,601 arrivals and Germany with 1,591 arrivals.

Maldives also recorded 1,559 arrivals from India during the review period, 1,557 visitors from Spain, 1,444 arrivals from Ukraine, followed by 1,123 visitors from Brazil.

Until Maldives stopped issuing on-arrival visas on March 27, a total of 382,760 arrivals were recorded with a daily average of 4,206.

In July, Maldives saw 1,752 arrivals with a daily average of 117 arrivals. The number steadily increased to 7,628 arrivals in August, with a daily average of 246 visitors.

By the end of September, Maldives recorded 9,538 arrivals and from January 1 to September 30, tourist arrivals were at 401,714.

The highest increase in tourist arrivals was observed within October, as such, within October 1 – 28, 18,601 visitors were recorded, with a daily average of 620 arrivals.

Up until Wednesday, Emirates Airline carried the highest number of passengers to the Maldives out of the scheduled international flights operating to the island nation since borders reopened. As such, a total of 14,987 visitors booked flights on Emirates.

Emirates has conducted 178 trips to the island nation.

Qatar Airways comes second with 206 flight movements and 14,690 passengers. The airline has recorded the greatest number of movements since border reopening.

Maldives flag carrier Maldivian has also operated 174 flights to and from the island nation, carrying 2,289 passengers in total.

The increase in flight frequencies and tourist arrivals signal optimism in recovering from the Covid-19 situation.

Maldives responded to the escalating situation of Covid-19 by shutting down borders following which the country’s tourism industry was at a complete standstill for over three months. The government has been implementing numerous measures against the virus since.