Maldives tourist arrivals top 369,841 by Friday

Maldives tourist arrivals have topped 369,841 by Friday.

The Ministry of Tourism publicized its latest statistics on Saturday, revealing that 369,841 visitors had been welcome at the Velana International Airport between January 1 – April 23.

Of this, 71,271 visitors have been welcomed so far this ongoing month, which is 43.3 percent less than the number recorded the same period in 2019, where 125,691 tourist arrivals were recorded.

While visitors are staying for an average of nine days, the number of tourist arrivals recorded from January 1 – April 23 last year was slightly higher. As such, it was 39.2 percent more with 608,000 visitors having been recorded within the period.

Tourism Ministry also shared that an average of 3,273 tourists were visiting the Maldives every day based on their statistics.

Maldives celebrated over 100,000 tourist arrivals during March, the highest monthly arrivals recorded since borders were reopened for international travel. As such, 109,585 tourist visited Maldives during March. During January 2021, Maldives welcomed 92,103 visitors. The number escalated to 96,882 in February 2021.

The highest arrivals this ongoing month was recorded on April 2 at 5,052 visitors. The lowest arrivals were recorded at 1,807 on April 22. On Sunday Maldives recorded 3,924 arrivals, 2,242 on Monday, 2,045 on Tuesday, 2,549 on Wednesday, 1,807 on Thursday followed by 2,710 on Friday

India contributes 22.8 percent of the arrival rate with 83,289 arrivals from India by Wednesday, which is a step up after having been ranked second before the Covid-19 pandemic began sweeping across the globe. India is followed by Russia making up 21.6 percent with 78,847 arrivals by Wednesday and third comes Ukraine, which jumped from the 23rd rank according to pre-Covid stats and currently contributes 5.5 percent of tourist arrivals.

Germany, Kazakhstan, United States, United Kingdom, Romania, Czech Republic and France are also considered some of the biggest tourist markets for the Maldives.

The ministry earlier revealed that tourists who have completed 14 days after receiving their final Covid-19 vaccination shot will be allowed to enter Maldives without a negative PCR test, from 20 April. However, tourists from India are exempt from this due to the spiraling infections being reported in the neighboring country.

The ministry boasts increasing tourist arrivals, which were snail-paced into the beginning of the country’s tourism-revival journey. As such, an optimistic tourism ministry revealed that the source markets are recovering, with “impressive” results.

Maldives aims to welcome 1.5 million tourist arrivals this ongoing year.

Maldives will mark 50 years since the tourism industry’s inception, in 2022, which is to be celebrated as the golden year of tourism in Maldives.