The tourism industry of Maldives continued its growth streak into the final quarter of 2019 according to Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).
In the Quarterly Economic Bulletin of the Maldives central bank, it was reported that the significant improvement in the flight movements to the country played an instrumental role in the uptick in the industry's performance.
In the final quarter of 2019, new airlines which included Gulf Air and Air Italy commenced its direct flight operations to Maldives. This in turn led to a moderate increase in the international flight movement by 7.2% in the review quarter when compared to corresponding quarter in 2018.
The flight movement observed a modest increase of over 200 flights to the island nation.
The increase in flights to Maldives complemented in the growth in tourist arrivals; while Europe and Asia and the Pacific region remained the strongest regional markets to the island nation.
The regions accounted for 53% and 38% of the total number of tourist arrivals to Maldives in the review quarter, respectively.
European market's arrivals grew by 14% in annual terms, coming as a result of increased tourist movement from Italy (24%), Russia (26%) and United Kingdom (13%).
Furthermore, emerging markets from the European peninsula such as Poland had also contributed to the overall growth in the region's tourist arrivals to Maldives.
On the other hand, tourist arrivals from Asia and the Pacific region witnessed an annual growth of 7%, which is almost entirely the result from the staggering growth from Indian travelers.
Throughout the year, Indian travel market observed the strongest growth rate and pace to Maldives with a 48% annual growth rate in the review quarter.
China, which still remains as the single largest tourist market to Maldives, accounting for 12% of the total number of tourist arrivals to the country however observed a decline of 12% as well.
