Visitors to Maldives surpass 2021’s total arrivals before October’s end

Maldives has seen more tourist arrivals so far this year that the whole of 2021, states Tourism Minister Dr. Abdulla Mausoom.

He posted on the social media site, Twitter, that a total of 1,321,937 tourists visited the Maldives in 2021, and that arrivals this year surpassed the figure on Thursday, October 27.

He congratulated all tourism stakeholders for the milestone.

"Thanks to the support & engagement of all. Congratulations to Tourism Industry Investors, Employees, Other Stakeholders, and Lovely People of Maldives," he wrote.

The Managing Director of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), Thoyyib Mohamed, said while speaking to Sun, that this landmark achievement was reached due to the cooperation and unity of everyone involved and that it was reached as the Maldives had opened its borders even with the unforeseen barriers thrust at the tourism industry during the pandemic.

“This was the constant work put in during the past three years for one, the other part is that the industry cooperated and worked together,” he said.

He further stated that the Maldives is now one of the world’s most popular destinations and that the Maldives will hopefully continue the streak of winning the World’s Leading Destination at this year’s World Travel Awards just like the past two years.

“People have seen Maldives in numerous very different ways these past three years, as a safe destination during the COVID-19 pandemic. The experience once people is truly unique,” he said.

As per the statistics released by the tourism ministry yesterday, the top source markets for tourist arrivals so far this year are India, Russia, and the UK.

Tourists from India made up 14.1 percent of the total arrivals, with Russia placing second with 12.1 percent and the UK at third with 11 percent.