Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) in their Quarterly Economic Bulletin reports strong improvement of tourism industry activities in Q2-2023.
According to the central bank’s data, Chinese arrivals continued to increase despite the off-peak season of tourism in the review quarter, increasing from 17,691 in the previous quarter to 45,736 in the second quarter.
This was also an annual increase of 42,987 in Chinese tourists, reported MMA.
The growth in tourism activities was further supported by the annual increase in arrivals from Russia in the review quarter. Russian arrivals increased from 29,596 in Q2-2022 to 43,761 in Q2-2023; reflecting a 48% growth.
Tourist arrivals for the review quarter reached 405,679 and increased by 6% compared with the corresponding second quarter in 2022, and by 7% compared with pre-pandemic levels of Q2-2019; but it was a 23% decline compared with Q1-2023.
Tourist bed nights increased by 3% despite a marginal drop in average stay from 7.7 days to 7.3 days during the quarter in annual terms. Reflecting in the improvements in bed nights, the estimated travel receipts for the review quarter increased by 6% compared with the same period in 2022; reaching a total of USD 835.6 million with an increase of USD 47.8 million.