Male’, Maldives – Statistics publicized by the ministry of Tourism last Thursday have revealed that with 12,961 arrivals, Russia is the largest market for tourism after borders reopened in July.
The number is much higher than the second country on the list, India, with 5,449 arrivals after borders reopened. The USA, UK AND UAE follow closely with arrival numbers in the 4000’s.
The report reveals that as of the 18th of November, 441,952 tourists have travelled to the Maldives, with 59,105 of them having have arrived after borders reopened.
India, the second largest tourist market for the Maldives in 2019, is also second on the list of post-border opening tourist arrivals. This is mainly due the travel bubble established between the two countries in August, and the multiple Indian airlines that have resumed scheduled flights to Velana International Airport (VIA).
China, which has consistently been ranked for the highest tourist arrivals to the Maldives, is nowhere to be found in the top 10 tourism markets after border-reopening list by the Ministry of Tourism. However, this may change in no more than week as China Southern Airlines will start operations to Maldives on November 29, connecting Male’ to Guangzhou.
The Tourism Ministry also revealed that Emirates and Qatar Airways have brought in the most number of tourists, with 19,740 and 18,183 tourists arriving to the Maldives on these Airlines respectively. Russian Airline Aeroflot follows with 8,196 passengers after Russia allowed travel to the Maldives in September.
While guest arrivals are gradually improving, they are nowhere near as good as the previous year. In 2019, Maldives recorded 1.7 Million tourist arrivals, a new record. However, in 2020 it is not expected that even half this number can be achieved
