Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has said the tourism industry saw significant improvements in the first 6 months of the year, when compared with the statistics from the past 5 years. MMPRC noted over 1.1 million tourists had arrived in Maldives by August 25, making it the most improved period for the tourism industry during a period of 5 years.
Speaking at a press conference, Managing Director of MMPRC Thoyyib Mohamed revealed an increase of 19 percent was seen in the first half of the year. He highlighted there were significant improvements made in the traditional markets contributing to the tourism industry of Maldives, adding tourists arriving from Germany, Italy and the UK have increased. In this regard, tourists arriving from Italy have increase by 34 percent, which was attributed to the efforts of MMPRC in promoting Maldives as a travel destination.
The overall number of tourists arriving from Europe increased by 20 percent, according to Thoyyib, who also noted the number of tourists arriving from the UK had also increased by 13 percent.
However, it was China with highest contribution for the Maldivian tourism industry, with over 140,000 tourists arriving in Maldives in the first 6 months of 2019.
MMPRC further revealed more promotional activities targeted for Australia and the Americas will be conducted in the future.