The tourist arrival figure recorded so far this year, surpassed the 506,000-mark by Wednesday.

This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism through its latest daily tourist arrival statistics published on Monday.

As such, the ministry’s statistics show that between January 1 and March 12, 506,053 tourists arrived in the Maldives. This is a 4.6 percent surge in comparison to the 484,001 arrivals recorded in 2024 and much higher than the 423,349 arrivals recorded in 2023.

349,599 out of the 506,053 visitors that were recorded by Wednesday stayed at resorts. This makes up 69.1 percent. 129,367 tourists make up 25.6 percent of the tourists who stayed at guesthouses, 14,455 tourists make up 2.9 percent of the tourists who stayed at hotels, 12,329 tourists make up 2.4 percent of the tourists who stayed at liveaboard vessels and 283 who stayed at other facilities during this period.

Further, between March 1 – 12, 77,099 visitors were recorded, marking a 3.9 percent surge from the 74,224 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2024. It is a lot higher than the 72,935 arrivals recorded in 2023.

According to the ministry, 214,863 tourist arrivals were recorded between January 1 – 31.

This was an 11.7 percent surge in comparison to the 192,385 arrivals recorded in the same period last year and much higher than the 172,499 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2023.

In February, Maldives welcomed 214,091 tourists. This figure is a 1.5 percent decline from the 217,392 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2024. However, it is higher than the 177,915 arrivals recorded in 2023.

About 6,931 tourists arrived on average every day during January and 7,646 in February.

6,425 tourists are arriving on average every day during March.

The statistics go on to reveal that China has remained the leader in tourist arrivals to the Maldives with no signs of slowing down, dominating the top source markets for the third consecutive month of the year.

As such, the ministry’s statistics revealed that although Russia topped the tourist source markets into the third week of January, it was replaced by China into the last week of January.

China has topped the leading source of tourists since then. The ministry’s figures revealed that as 2025 commenced Russia topped the tourist source markets, however, it has since been replaced by China, contributing 12.6 percent of the market share with 63,805 arrivals.

China sat at the top of the list of tourist source markets by the end of 2024 as well. 2024 began with Italy topping the tourist arrival markets of the island nation; however, it was replaced by Russia for a few weeks and then by China for the remainder of the year.

Although Russia ranked second place for a few weeks since the new year began the United Kingdom now sits at second place on the list. UK ranks second place contributing 10.2 percent of the market share with 51,466 arrivals recorded by Wednesday.

Russia comes third contributing 10.2 percent of the market share with 51,439 arrivals.

Although Austria topped the tourist source markets by the end of January, it has since been replaced by Switzerland on the list of top 10 markets.

Maldives welcomed 2,046,615 visitors in 2024. In 2023, 1,878,543 tourist arrivals were recorded.

A true jewel of the Indian Ocean, Maldives has been dazzling among passionate travelers since tourism was introduced in the Maldives in 1972. It is going to be 53 years since the island paradise has been enchanting travelers from around the globe with its unrivaled hospitality and picturesque beauty.