Maldives has welcomed more than 37,000 tourists during the first week of 2023.

Statistics publicized by the Ministry of Tourism shows that Maldives has welcomed, 37,209 tourists between 01 January 2023 and 07 January 2023.

As such, 4,625 tourists were welcomed on 01 January, followed by 6,487 tourists on 02 January and 6,232 tourists on 03 January.

Maldives saw 4,953 tourist arrivals on 04 January. 4,607 tourist arrivals were recorded on 05 January, 4,782 tourists on 06 January and 5,523 tourist arrivals were recorded on 07 January 2023.

Ministry of Tourism highlights that this is a 12.7 percent increase compared to the same period of 2022.

During the first seven days of 2021, Maldives recorded 20,654 tourist arrivals. In 2022, tourist arrivals for the first seven days of the year was 33,010.

The Ministry's statistics shows that the daily average of tourist arrivals, so far in the year is 5,316.

Tourists are staying in the Maldives for an average of eight days.

Maldives welcomed it's first tourist visitor of the new year with a special ceremony held at Velana International Airport (VIA).

The first visitor for this year arrived on Etihad flight, Etihad Airways EY278 at around 06:05 am.

The special visitor from Russia was greeted by senior officials from the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) along with executives from the Ministry of Tourism, Maldives Immigration and Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL).

Maldives achieved its tourist arrival target for 2022, with the arrival of 1.6 millionth tourist, on 19 December.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, in his address at the opening of the Parliament for the year on February 3, 2022, announced the administration's ambition to attract over 1.6 million tourists this year.

The Maldives reached the target with the combined efforts of relevant government agencies, the private sector, and industry stakeholders.

While Maldives welcomed a record-breaking 1,702,887 tourists in 2019, the tourist arrival of 2020 saw a drastic plunge due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, Maldives ended 2020 with 555,494 tourist 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.

The country ended 2022, with a total of 1,675,285 tourists.