Tourist arrivals in December alone have exceeded the total number of arrivals recorded within the first five months since border reopening.

Maldives responded to the escalating situation of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic by halting the issuance of on-arrival visas, on March 27, and nearly four months later, reopened borders for international travel on July 15.

Tourism ministry statistics reveal that since then, up until the end of November, a total of 76,141 tourists had visited the Maldives.

As such, 1,701 tourist arrivals were recorded during July, 7,628 visitors were recorded during August followed by 9,538 tourist arrivals in September.

During October, 21,515 tourist arrivals were recorded and the number rose to 35,759 in November.

By December 28 from the start of the month, a total of 87,024 tourist arrivals were recorded, which is an increase of 10,883 compared to the total recorded during the past five months.

Since border reopening, international airlines operating to the island nation have also been increasing flight frequency, gradually. As such, over 25 airlines are currently operating flights to Maldives.

Although arrivals from top source markets for the country’s tourism industry had decreased, newer markets were introduced since border reopening.

The top source market for Maldives tourism remains Russia, India following closely at second. Further, the United Kingdom, United States of America and United Arab Emirates also remain in the top ten markets.

Other countries contributing to the country’s snowballing tourist arrival rate include France, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Spain.

163,165 tourist arrivals have been recorded since border reopening, while a total of 546,012 tourist visited the country throughout the year, from January 1 to December 28.