Around 200 tourists have arrived in the first flight from China since the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Beijing Capital Airlines flight arrived in the Maldives with 198 passengers. They were welcomed at the airport by employees of the Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) along with Minister of Tourism Dr. Abdulla Mausoom and Thoyyib Mohamed, the Managing Director of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC).
Beijing Capital Airlines is one of the three Chinese airlines that has decided to operate flights to the Maldives. The other airlines are China Eastern Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines.
China was the largest tourist market for the Maldives before the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Since then, tourists from China have not travelled to the Maldives in the past three years due to the safety measures taken in China to halt the spread of COVID-19.
However, the government of China recently ended the COVID-19 restrictions for travellers. Ambassador of China to the Maldives Wang Lixin said the Maldives is one of the most favoured destinations for Chinese tourists.