Male, June 20 (FN Representative) Tourist arrivals to Maldives has been on the decline in June, 2024. There has been a 2.5 percent drop in arrivals in comparison to the same period last year, as per their Tourism Ministry. Maldives has welcomed a total of 9,36,258 visitors since 2024 began, of which 1,07,940 were from China. Although India was among the top three source markets into the beginning of the year, it was replaced by China, a report in Raajje tv said. A little over 44,013 tourist arrivals have been recorded so far in June. This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism through its latest weekly tourist arrival statistics published earlier this week. The ministry revealed that between June 1 – 12, a total of 44,013 tourists were welcomed at Velana International Airport (VIA). The arrivals for the sixth month of the year, are a 2.5 percent decline in comparison to the 45,161 arrivals recorded in the same period (June 1-12) last year and less than the 44,849 arrivals recorded in the same period of 2022.
About 3,668 tourists are arriving on average every day during this month, and tourists are staying in the Maldives for seven days, the tv report said. Arrivals so far this year, are a 9.6 percent increase from the 8,54,405 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, and a significant growth from the 747,183 arrivals recorded in 2022. The daily average for 2024 so far, is 5,709 and tourists are staying for an average of eight days, the Raajje tv report said. Further, statistics go on to reveal that while the new year began with Italy topping the tourist arrival markets of the island nation it was replaced by Russia for a few weeks and China currently sits at the top of the list, contributing 11.5 percent of the market share with 107,940 arrivals by June 12. Although the UK ranked second place for the past few weeks, it was recently replaced by Russia once more. Russia now contributes 10.3 percent of the market share with 96,179 arrivals recorded so far. Russia dominated the tourist arrival markets of the Maldives by the end of 2023 as well. UK currently ranks third place in the top 10 markets, contributing 9.4 percent of the market share with 88,209 arrivals. Maldives welcomed 1.8 million tourists in 2023 and aspires to welcome two million tourists this year. Tourism was introduced in the Maldives in 1972. It has been 52 years since zealous travelers have been visiting the Maldives which has been drawing in visitors with its picturesque beauty for years.