Maldives sees over 76,000 tourist arrivals since border reopening

Maldives has seen over 76,000 tourist arrivals since borders were reopened after nearly four-month closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to statistics published by the Ministry of Tourism, a total of 76,090 tourists arrived in the island nation from July 15 to November 30.

458,937 tourists have visited the country this year, meaning 382,847 arrivals were recorded prior to border closure on March 27.

While there were 1,701 arrivals during the first 15 days after border reopening, August saw 7,628 arrivals. 9,538 tourists visited the island nation in September and 21,515 in October.

According to the ministry’s statistics, arrivals in November exceeded the previous month by thousands; 35,708 tourist arrivals were recorded in November.

While the daily arrivals have been steadily increasing since border opening, an average of 1,190 tourists visited per day in November. Most arrivals were recorded on November 29; 2,299 arrivals.

While Italy has been the top source market for tourism with 45,378 arrivals throughout the year, Russia is the leading source market since border reopening, with 16,805 arrivals. This contributes to 22.1 percent of the total arrivals since borders were reopened.

India remains in second with 9,272 arrivals (12.2 percent) while the third-leading source market is still the United Kingdom with 5,394 arrivals (7.1 percent).

Other top performing tourist markets since border reopening:

While a total of 376 tourists establishments including 127 resorts/marinas, five hotels, 123 safari vessels and 121 guesthouses in 24 islands have been allowed to restart operations since July 15, an additional eight resorts will be given the greenlight to restart operations by the end of December.