Ministry of Tourism has revealed the Maldives has recorded over 900,000 tourist arrivals this year.
As per the statistics of the tourism ministry, a total of 905,817 tourists visited the Maldives between January 1 and October 9 this year. This is a 123% increase compared to the same period last year, where only 407,068 arrivals were recorded. This was mainly due to a three-month-long closure of borders following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the arrivals recorded this year is a 29.9% increase compared to the same period of 2019.
The tourism ministry statistics showed that 3,884 arrivals were recorded as the daily average. If the daily average figures remain the same for the remaining part of the year, 1.2 million tourist arrivals will be recorded for the year, stated the tourism ministry.
The ministry revealed 34,955 arrivals have been recorded during the first nine days of October.
India is currently the top source market of tourists to the Maldives, accounting for 23% of all arrivals this year. Russia is second in the market with 19.4% of all arrivals this year.
The tourism ministry revealed, on average, tourists spent eight days in the Maldives.
As shown in the statistics, 92,103 tourist arrivals were recorded in January while 96,882 arrivals were recorded in February and 109,585 arrivals were recorded in March. Additionally, a total of 91,200 tourists visited the Maldives in April, 64,613 tourists visited in May, 56,166 visited in June, 101,818 in July, 143,599 in August, and 114,896 arrivals were recorded in September.