Malé, Maldives – Minister of Tourim, Dr Abdulla Mausoom has said that short stay and long stay transit tourist are a crucial part of the Maldivian tourism market.
Tweeting in regard to an article written by a local online news website about the increasing Indian tourists who come for “Quarantine” packages, Minister stated that while such tourists were curcial that Dubai and Singapore were prime examples of it.
Minister also added that this market would be continued with proper precautions and safety measures being in place.
According to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism of Maldives, a total of 362,775 tourists have arrived to the Maldives as of April 21, during 2021, despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
While India was second in the tourist arrival market of Maldives pre-covid, India is currently topping the market in the year 2021 with over 81,000 tourists contributing to 22.5% of the arrival market. In addition to this, India also topped the tourist market for 2020 with a total of 62,960 tourist arrivals recorded from India throughout the year.
While India leads, Russia comes in second with 21.2% arrivals, as countries such as Ukraine, Germany, Kazakhstan, Romania, United Kingdon, United States, Czech Republic and France follow on the top ten arrivals list respectively.
Ministers remark about the transit tourism comes while Maldives Immigration has announced that the Maldivian citizens and Work Visa holders traveling from India to the Maldives are required to undergo mandatory quarantine.
The announcement from Maldives Immigration comes after the neighboring country, and the second worst Covid-19 affected country, India confirmed a total of 315,660 cases and 2,091 deaths in a single day on April 21, 2021. No country has yet recorded more cases in a single day.
Maldives Immigration has announced that starting from April 22, 2021, all the Maldivians citizens and Work Visa holders traveling from India to the Maldives are required to undergo mandatory quarantine for ten days in their place of residency or work even if they are vaccinated.
Maldives is also preparing to launch the ‘3-V’ campaign this year. The three Vs stand for of Visit, Vaccinate and Vacation in which tourists are expected to vacation for three to four weeks in the Maldives and receive two complete doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
