Maldives’ tourist arrivals set to top 1.8 million tomorrow

Tourist arrivals to the Maldives is set to top 1.8 million on Wednesday, according to the Tourism Ministry.

The Tourism Ministry, along with the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), are set to celebrate the arrival of the 1.8 millionth tourist at the Velana International Airport.

The 1.8 millionth tourist is expected to arrive in the Maldives between 04:30 pm and 05:00 pm on Wednesday.

Maldives had welcomed the one millionth tourist of the year back in July. Hailing from Moscow, Russia, Anton Pavlo, along with his partner Anastasia Klinsky and their daughter, arrived in Maldives on a British Airways flight on July 16.

As of December 11, Russia remains the top tourist market to the Maldives with 197,824 arrivals. India is in second place with 194,630 arrivals.

TOP TEN SOURCE MARKETS:

• Russia: 197,824 arrivals
• India: 194,630 arrivals
• China: 181,003 arrivals
• UK: 144,415 arrivals
• Germany: 127,896 arrivals
• Italy: 104,411 arrivals
• US: 69,426 arrivals
• France: 45,849 arrivals
• Spain: 38,645 arrivals
• Switzerland: 34,890 arrivals

Maldives, which was recently crowned the World’s Leading Destination for the fourth year running at the 2023 World Travel Awards, had initially targeted 1.8 tourist arrivals for this year, but later revised the figure to 1.9 million – which will be the highest number of tourists recorded in the country’s history.

The country had recorded its highest tourist arrivals in 2019, with 1.7 visitors.

Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) projects 2.01 million tourists will visit the country, next year.