The new year is off to a good start for the Maldives tourism industry with 22,297 arrivals in the first four days, an increase of 7% compared to the same period last year.
Tourists from Russia and Italy dominated in the first week with 4,402 and 3,854 respectively, representing a market share of 19.7% for Russia and 17.3% for Italy. Last year’s top market India was in 3rd place with 1,605 tourists, followed by the United Kingdom and Germany. The daily average tourist arrivals was 5,574 with an average duration of stay of 8.1 days.
There were 168 resorts, 869 guesthouses, 158 safari vessels and 13 hotels in operation, with a combined bed capacity of 59,657 as of 4 January.
A total of 1,675,294 tourists visited the Maldives in 2022, exceeding the government’s optimistic forecast for the year.
The first tourist visitor of 2023 was welcomed with a special ceremony at the Velana International Airport last Sunday. Nikolai Stratichuk from Russia, who arrived on an Etihad Airways flight around 6:05 a.m with his family, was gifted a five-night stay at Reethi Faru Resort.
