According to the latest economic updates from Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) the tourist arrivals and bed nights increased by 1,096% and 888% respectively in September 2021, compared to the same month last year.
Moreover, the total tourist arrivals exclusively in the month of September 2021 stood at 114,896 which is still 2% less than the pre-pandemic levels observed in September 2019.
On the other hand, tourist bed nights observed an increment of 5% compared to the corresponding period in 2019.
MMA identifies that the annual increase in tourist arrivals reflected the base effect of the slow pickup in tourist arrivals in 2020 post international border reopening in the Maldives. Moreover, the surge in arrivals from India also pushed for the increment in the tourist figures since the travel ban on India was lifted on July 2021.
Furthermore, operational bed capacity of the Maldives tourism industry observed an increase of 25,756 beds when compared with the same month in 2020 and a 31,139 increase in beds compared to August 2021.
Meanwhile, occupancy rate spiked to 49% in the review month from just 10% in the same month during the previous year.
Tourist arrivals from January to September 2021 observed an increment by 117% in annual terms while total bed nights of the industry observed an annual increase of 130%.