Tourist arrivals to the Maldives is now less than 75,000 short of hitting the one-million annual arrival mark, reports the Ministry of Tourism.
According to the statistics updated by the ministry, annual arrivals to the Maldives as of June 09, 2024 stood at 925,241 – a 9.8% increment compared to the same period last year, during which arrivals in annual terms reached 842,908.
Despite observing an annual growth in tourist arrivals, the visitor total for May 2024 saw a 0.9 decline while from June 01 to 09, arrivals saw a 2.0 decline. This decline could be attributed to a number of factors including changing global travel trends, socio-political developments.
Another reason for a decline currently could be related to the European Parliament elections from June 06 to 09; which saw a large number of Europeans attending to polling stations in their respective countries to cast vote.
China maintains its top market position without any immediate threat of dethronement, while Russia is in second spot with a little over 94,000 arrivals.
Despite mended faces between the Maldives and India, more recently during Maldivian President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s visit to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi; there are still significant portion of Indian businesses and celebrities alike promoting the ‘Boycott Maldives’ slogan, owing to Male’ government’s alleged closer leanings with Beijing.
Top 10 Markets
- China – 106,323
- Russia – 94,784
- UK – 87,415
- Italy – 76,256
- Germany – 74,192
- India – 56,468
- USA – 32,955
- France – 32,639
- Switzerland – 21,659
- Poland – 17,632
Tourist arrivals maxed at 1.6 million in 2022, which saw a near 200k increment the following year, closing 2023 with 1.8 million annual arrivals. The Maldives government anticipates exceeding last year’s arrival total in 2024; with Ministry of Tourism earlier projecting an annual total of two million arrivals.