Maldives has welcomed more than 700,000 tourists so far in 2025.

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

As such, the ministry’s statistics show that between January 1 and April 16, 743,228 tourists arrived in the Maldives. This is a 6.3 percent surge in comparison to the 698,895 arrivals recorded in 2024 and much higher than the 611,581 arrivals recorded in 2023.

Further, between April 1 – 16, 110,810 tourists were welcomed at Velana International Airport (VIA). This is a 16.8 percent increase from the 94,891 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2024 and much higher than the 87,653 arrivals recorded the previous year.

The ministry’s statistics go on to reveal that 530,014 out of the 743,228 visitors that were recorded by Thursday stayed at resorts. This makes up 70.1 percent of the total arrivals. 184,278 tourists make up 24.4 percent of the tourists who stayed at guesthouses, 22,475 tourists make up three percent of the tourists who stayed at hotels, 18,796 tourists make up 2.5 percent of the tourists who stayed at liveaboard vessels and 324 who stayed at other facilities during this period.

About 6,931 tourists arrived on average every day during January, 7,646 in February and 6,563 in March.

6,926 tourists are arriving on average during April.

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 into the fourth 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. China contributes 11 percent of the market share with 81,474 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.

Russia sits at second place on the list contributing 10.9 percent of the market share with 81,237 arrivals recorded by Thursday.

The United Kingdom comes third contributing 10.3 percent of the market share with 76,701 arrivals.

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.