Maldives Welcomes 212 Arrivals on First Day of Re-opening Tourism

Thursday 16th of July 2020

Maldives Welcomes 212 Arrivals on First Day of Re-opening Tourism

On 15th July, the first day of border reopening of Maldives, there were a total 212 arrivals into the country. This includes 104 tourists, the majority from Turkey and the United States. Two international passenger flights operated to the Maldives yesterday, a Qatar Airways QR 672 and SriLankan Airlines UL 101.

On the 2nd day, Maldives had an Emirates EK657 flight fly to the Maldives. SriLankan Airlines and Qatar Airways will also be operating to the Indian Ocean country today. With the re-opening of international borders, the Maldives’ aviation industry has also kick-started, with domestic airlines commencing operations with enhanced safety.

In order to begin the reopening of borders in the Maldives for tourists and to launch a new campaign targeted to market Maldives as a sought after tourist destination, Visit Maldives hosted a virtual press conference with international media and travel trade. It was successfully concluded and the Maldives has launched the new campaign "Rediscover Maldives...the sunny side of life."

Many resorts in the Maldives welcomed their first guest yesterday with enhanced safety and health measures. This includes SAii Lagoon Maldives, Curio Collection by Hilton; Hard Rock Hotel Maldives; Grand Park Kodhipparu; Oblu Sangeli and Four Seasons at Landaa Giraavaru.

“After a long time we are back in business and the sun is shining again. Maldives has the safest tourism in the world, enabled by the unique geography. We urge everyone to discover the sunny side of life. We have one of the strongest health response to this crisis with very good testing facilities and medical facilities and the systems put in place to safeguard the health and safety of the tourist is utmost,” stated the Finance Minister at the event held to re-opening borders yesterday.