Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer has revealed only 845,000 tourists are expected to arrive in the Maldives this year.
Speaking at the Parliament Committee on Public Accounts, Minister Ameer said the Maldivian tourism sector has come to a halt with the suspension of on-arrivals visas on March 27 as part of the efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country. The finance minister expressed it is difficult to foresee a date which the tourism sector will resume operations, adding a team from Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economic Development has identified different situations which may arise during the current situation.
The minister said during the preparations of the situation report it was estimated the tourist arrivals to the Maldives will see a decrease of 50%. In efforts to identify the most likely situation Maldives will face, the minister said the tourism sector is most likely to see a fall of 50% in arrivals amounting to about 845,000 arrivals throughout the year.
Furthermore, Minister Ameer shed light on the statistics of the past month, revealing the tourist arrivals decreased by 60% in March. He revealed only 382,000 tourist arrivals have been recorded so far this year after posting record numbers in 2019.
Meanwhile, the finance ministry expects the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Maldives to record a decrease of 11.5% due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.