Maldives Inches Closer to 1 Million Tourists With Arrivals By-Passing 900,00 Last Week
Sunday 24th of July 2022
The Maldives tourism is in cheerful spirits as it drifts closer to the arrival target for 2022 in this Golden-Jubilee year of Tourism. Last week, the arrival numbers reached an astonishing 900,000 paving for the 1 million milestone. The President of the Maldives, Ibrahim Solih stated in his presidential address in February that Maldives aims to welcome 1.6 million tourists by the end of this year.
The statistics published by the Tourism Ministry last Thursday revealed that 900,808 tourists have arrived in the Maldives by 20th July 2022. This is a significant increment from the growth rate in 2021 with 57.5%, however, the rate is in negative 4.8% when compared to statistics from 2019.
Although the statistics are in the negative when compared to the whole year of 2019, the statistics for July alone show a hopeful image with a slight increase of 4.9% growth recorded. The 2022 July numbers shows a tremendous rise in comparison to July 2021 with a dazzling 42.3% growth rate.
The daily arrival numbers have climbed to 4482 tourists arriving each day with guests venturing to stay for an approximate 8 days that is to say a little more than a week.
The Maldives welcomed 131,764 tourists in January, 149,008 tourists in February, 150,748 tourists in March and 145,280 tourists in the month of April. In May the arrivals soar to 125,522 which is greater than the value recorded in the same month in 2019. June saw 110,889 visitors coming into the country and in July so far 87,597 tourists have landed in this paradise.
The top 10 markets saw drastic changes when compared to pre-pandemic markets. While China occupied the 1st position in 2019 constituting for 16.7% of the market share it is no longer visible from the charts as borders were closed due to pandemic. India now takes the first place in the market with 132,151 visitors and corresponding to 14.7% of the market share. 2nd place is taken up by United Kingdom and 3rd by Russia; both countries which has climbed the charts since the pandemic. Saudi Arabia is a new member observed in the market along with Switzerland and Spain.
A total of 1,167 accommodation facilities are in operation with 57,487 beds available. The largest number of guesthouses is under operation in the Kaafu Atoll with 332, quickly followed by 152 in Alif Alif and 87 in Alif Dhaalu. Both Baa and Vaavu Atoll also hosts more than 50 beds.
As of 20th July, a many number of airlines grace the Maldivian skies including highly-acclaimed airlines such as Qatar, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa.
Maldives tourism plummeted in the years 2020 and 2021 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and having to close borders. Numerous efforts are underway to revive the numbers to pre-pandemic levels and significant improvements are seen which suggest a hopeful image for this little nation in its 50th year of tourism.