Tourist arrivals to Maldives top 1.3 million

Tourist arrivals to the Maldives have now surpassed 1.3 million, as the island destination seeks to boost annual visitor numbers this year to a record 2.3 million.

According to the latest daily update released by the Tourism Ministry, the country has welcomed 1,328,452 visitors as of Tuesday, marking a 9.2 percent increase compared to the same period last year, when the island country saw 1,216,240 visitors.

The daily arrivals so far this August stands at 6,122 visitors.

China continues to dominate as the top source market for tourist arrivals with close to 200,000 arrivals, contributing to 14.8 percent of the market share. In second place is Russia with over 157,000 visitors.

TOP SOURCE MARKETS:

• China: 197,127 visitors (14.8 percent)
• Russia: 157,088 visitors (11.8 percent)
• UK: 123,449 visitors (9.3 percent)
• Italy: 94,866 visitors (7.1 percent)
• Germany: 92,980 visitors (7 percent)
• India: 76,469 visitors (5.8 percent)
• USA: 40,310 visitors (3 percent)
• France: 38,109 visitors (2.9 percent)
• Spain: 26,848 visitors (2 percent)
• Switzerland: 25,757 visitors (1.9 percent)

According to the latest update, 73.2 percent of visitors stayed in resorts, while 22 percent stayed in guesthouses in local islands, 2.7 percent stayed in hotels, and 2.1 percent stayed in liveaboard vessels.

Tourist arrivals are expected to increase further once more airlines switch to the new international passenger terminal that opened at the Velana International Airport on July 26. The new terminal has the capacity to cater to 7.5 million passengers annually.

The Maldives welcomed a record two million tourist arrivals last year. The island destination, which won the award for the World Travel Awards (WTA) World's Leading Destination for the fifth consecutive year in 2024, expects to raise tourist arrivals to 2.3 million this year.