Ministry of Tourism has revealed over 24,000 tourists have visited the Maldives in the first five days of 2022.
A total of 24,527 tourist arrivals were recorded from January 1-5, which is an increase compared to the 22,121 tourist arrivals recorded in the same period in 2019. Statistics from the tourism ministry show the highest number of tourists arrived from Russia, with 6,700 tourist arrivals making up 27% of the total tourist arrivals. The second-highest number of tourists arrived from Italy, with 3,162 or 13% of the total arrivals. Germany is third with 1,665 tourist arrivals and India is fourth with 1,480 arrivals.
The government announced major plans to further improve the Maldivian tourism industry, which included launching homestay tourism at the start of the year. Homestay is a popular tourism model where tourists share a residence with a local household in the country they are visiting. The pilot project of homestay tourism in the Maldives was launched in Dhiggaru, Meemu Atoll.
Ministry of Tourism has stated homestay tourism is being introduced in the Maldives to allow more locals to get involved in the tourism sector and to generate more benefit from the sector to local communities. Homestay tourism is also expected to diversify the sector and to advertise the Maldives as an affordable tourist destination.