Tourism Ministry says a total of 78,500 tourists have visited the Maldives so far this month as the country looks to maintain its upward growth of the tourism sector.
The statistics released by the Ministry showed that as of 16th March, 78,500 tourists have visited the Maldives this month.
The statistics also showed that so far this year, a total of 359,272 tourists have arrived in the Maldives and this includes 131,764 that visited the country in January and 149,008 that arrived last month.
This means the tourist arrival now has almost equaled the numbers recorded pre-COVID pandemic.
Tourism Ministry said that by mid-March of 2019, a staggering 401,940 tourists had visited the Maldives and the following year 379,970 tourists had visited the country. The Maldives closed its borders in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and kept it closed for several months as it affected the booming tourism industry.
This impacted the tourist arrival in 2021, with 241,407 tourists arriving by mid-March.
Meanwhile, Russia has maintained its status as the Maldives' most popular tourist market with 13 percent of the total arrival till 16th March. Tourism Ministry said that 49,364 Russians had visited the Maldives this month while the UK came in second with 40,672 tourists.
Other top ten markets include India, Germany, Italy, the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Ukraine.
