Approximately 300,000 tourist arrivals needed to hit 2023’s target

Statistics by Tourism Ministry showed Maldives recorded 1.6 million tourist arrivals as of yesterday – meaning approximately 300,000 more arrivals are needed to reach the government’s yearly target.

As per the statistics publicized on Thursday, Maldives has seen the arrival of 80,193 tourists so far in November, a 9.6 percent increase compared to the same period last year, which saw the arrival of 73,163 tourists.

While the total number of arrivals so far this year stands at 1,600,382 so far, the greatest number of arrivals has been recorded from Russia with 183,771 tourists. India from which Maldives saw the greatest number of arrivals places second with 172,774 tourists.

The other top source markets for tourist arrivals are:

• China – 169,720
• UK – 130,610
• Germany – 115,544
• Italy - 94,557
• USA – 62,539
• France – 42,418
• Spain – 34,453
• Switzerland – 31,739

According to Tourism Ministry, there are 63,767 beds in operation at the moment, registered to 1,278 tourist establishments: most of them resorts.

The initial target for Maldives' tourism this year was to attract 1.8 million tourists. However, during the presidential campaign, outgoing President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih raised the target to 1.9 million.