Haa Alif Atoll, Maldives — Maldives has welcomed the first yacht of the season to the country.
The two tourists, Chris Likins and Jennifer Likins informed that they have traveled 1,550 nautical miles and has spent 11 days at the sea to travel all the way from Phuket, Thailand to Haa Alif Atoll in Maldives.
Likins informed that Skylark and crew was greeted with the warmest welcome on arrival by their agent, Asadhulla Mohamed and by the Immigration/Customs/Quarantine Officials of Maldives.
As Skylark is the first ever yacht this year to have traveled all the way to Maldives, the crew was greeted with a beautiful cake along with fresh lobsters. Likins informed that they have planned to spend 90 days in the Maldives and so far, their trip is off to a great start.
In addition to yachts, private jets coming in to Maldives has increased recently as number of tourist arrivals increase.
According to the statistics revealed by the Tourism Ministry, on the first day of 2021, Maldives welcomed a total of 2,005 tourists followed by 4,160 tourists on the second day of 2021.
On January 3rd, the Ministry recorded the arrival of 4,195 tourists to the country, which is so far the highest daily record of the year 2021. Since then, Maldives welcomed 2,646 tourists on January 4th and 2,672 tourists on January 5th taking the total tourist arrivals within the first five days of 2021 to 15,678.
While Russia is the leading country for the most number of tourists to Maldives in 2021 with 4,940 tourists within the first five days of year, India comes second with a record of 1,395 tourist arrivals in 2021.
The Tourism Ministry has targeted to welcome at least 1.5 million tourists this year, and so far the country has managed to welcome 15,678 tourists in the first five days of 2021.
Tourism Minister of Maldives, Dr. Abdulla Mausoom stated that although Maldives foresees to face more challenges in the future, the Tourism Ministry sees a lot of improvement and success in 2021 compared to the year before.
Minister Mausoom expressed hope and excitement towards the year 2021 and stated that despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Maldives will be ready for 2021 with new facilities and developed areas and that “2021 is going to be a year of investment for the Maldives.”
