Maldives welcomed more than 25,000 tourists in the first week of September.

Latest weekly statistics publicized by the Ministry of Tourism reveal that a total of 1,104,488 tourists were welcomed between January 1 – September 7.

This means that Maldives is inching closer to its tourist arrival target for the promising year. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in his presidential address on February 3, revealed that Maldives aims to welcome 1.6 million tourists this year.

This included 131,764 tourists welcomed during January, 149,008 tourist arrivals during February, 150,739 tourists welcomed during March and 145,280 tourists welcomed during April.

Further, 125,522 tourists were welcomed during May followed by 110,889 tourists in June and 133,561 tourists welcomed during July

In August, Maldives welcomed 131,863 tourists.

So far in September, Maldives has welcomed 25,854 tourists. This figure is a 2.6 percent increase from the arrivals recorded in 2019, however it is an 11 percent decline from the figure recorded in the same period last year.

Statistics revealed that the arrival count so far in the Golden Jubilee Year of tourism is an increase of 40.7 percent compared to the same period of 2021 and a 4.7 percent drop from 2019.

Maldives welcomed its one millionth tourist of the year on August 13. The government reached the one-million arrivals milestone for the promising year, with the arrival of a Czech Republic national.

Even though the current arrival figures are quite promising, the figures are yet to match those of pre Covid times.

The statistics go on to indicate that tourists are staying in the Maldives for an average of eight days this promising year.

Figures reveal that India remains the top source market for the archipelago nation’s tourism.

Even though Russia had maintained its position as the top source market for Maldives tourism in the past, India has once again become the top tourist market for Maldives, contributing 14.2 percent of the total arrival figure by September 7 with a total of 156,644 arrivals recorded from the neighboring country.

Second comes the Russia, contributing 11.6 percent with 127,894 arrivals.

Coming in third is the United Kingdom contributing 11.3 percent with 125,081 arrivals.

Although Ukraine was also included among the top 10 markets for Maldives tourism earlier, it has since been replaced. Arrivals from Ukraine have been plummeting due to the ongoing war.  

2020 was a sluggish year for Maldives tourism due to the numerous safety precautions implemented in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, alongside border closure. Tourist arrivals began to bounce back with the easing of travel restrictions as well as safety measures against Covid-19 in 2021.

During 2020, Maldives recorded 555,494 tourist arrivals, which was a drastic plunge from the previous year’s 1,702,887 arrivals. Maldives met its tourist arrival target for 2021 in late December and welcomed a total of 1,321,932 tourists by the end of the year.

It has been 50 years since zealous travelers have been visiting the Maldives which has been drawing in visitors with its picturesque beauty for years.

Maldives tourism industry was incepted in 1972.