The Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) held a vibrant ceremony on Wednesday, 18th January to mark the occasion of the first direct flight from China to the Maldives since 2020.
The ceremony was held at Velana International Airport (VIA) to celebrate the arrival of flight JD455 from Beijing Daxing International Airport. This is the first visitors from China to fly directly to the Maldives following the border closure during the pandemic.
At VIA, the Chinese direct arrivals were greeted with traditional BoduBeru, and a special gift pack with flowers.
The event was attended by ministers, ambassadors and other high-level executives from the governments of Maldives and China.
“We are extremely pleased to be welcoming flights from China to the Maldives again. China had been our key source market for some years prior to the onset of the pandemic, and we are looking forward to Chinese travelers topping our arrival charts again,” said Thoyyib Mohamed, CEO and Managing Director of MMPRC.
Before 2020, China consistently topped the arrival charts to the Maldives. In 2019, China was the top source market with 284,029 annual arrivals; which was 16.7% of the total arrivals that year.
The market however dropped to 6th spot in 2020 with only 34,245 annual arrivals in 2020, which was 6.2% of the total arrivals that year. The arrivals from China continued to dwindle significantly in the years that followed.