A new record for daily tourist arrivals since the border reopened in July 2020 was set as the Maldives welcomed 8,028 holidaymakers on Saturday (11 February).
The tourism ministry congratulated “travel and tourism industry partners and all the stakeholders on this milestone of Maldives Tourism.”
With 172,536 tourists, arrivals in January were also up 13.8% from the same month in the pre-pandemic year of 2019. Bolstered by the return of Chinese holidaymakers after a hiatus of nearly three years, tourist arrivals registered a whopping 31% increase compared to January 2022. China was the largest source market before the pandemic with 284,029 holidaymakers in 2019, representing a 17% market share.
As of 12 February, tourist arrivals for 2023 stood at 248,231 with a daily average of 5,773 visitors. The average duration of stay was 8.1 days.
Russia was the top market with 31,708 tourists, representing a market share of 12.8%, followed by India (27,173 tourists), United Kingdom (23,639 tourists), Italy (22,512 tourists), and Germany (15,941 tourists).
A total of 1,675,294 tourists visited the Maldives in 2022, exceeding the government’s optimistic forecast for the year. The authorities hope to reach a record-breaking 1.8 million tourist arrivals in 2023.
