Maldives has seen nearly 83,000 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 82,902 tourists arrived in the island nation from July 15 to December 4.
465,749 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.
6,761 arrivals were recorded in the first four days of the ongoing month.
While Italy had been the top source market for tourism throughout the year, Russia took over the top spot with the start of December. While 45,645 Italians have visited the island nation this year, a total of 46,065 arrivals have been recorded from Russia.
Russia is also the leading source market since border reopening, with 17,404 arrivals. This contributes to 21 percent of the total arrivals since borders were reopened.
India remains in second with 10,318 arrivals (12.4 percent) while the third-leading source market is still the United Kingdom with 5,703 arrivals (6.9 percent).
Other top performing tourist markets since border reopening:
- United States: 5,488 arrivals (6.6 percent)
- United Arab Emirates: 4,842 arrivals (5.8 percent)
- Germany: 3,999 arrivals (4.8 percent)
- Ukraine: 2,896 arrivals (3.5 percent)
- France: 2,331 arrivals (2.8 percent)
- Spain: 2,198 arrivals (2.7 percent)
- Brazil: 2,168 arrivals (2.6 percent)
While tourist arrivals were not as high as expected following border reopening, it is seen to be increasing as what industry officials describe as “peak season” approaches.
Authorities expect to reach the annual tourist arrival target of 500,000 by December 25.
Maldives welcomed a record breaking 1.7 million tourist arrivals in 2019, and a two million target was made for 2020.
