Tourist arrivals hit 1.25 million by end of Q3

Tourist arrivals to the Maldives have hit 1.25 million by the end of the third business quarter in September.

Records released by the Tourism Ministry for the month of September shows the total tourist arrivals in the first three quarters of 2019 to be 15.8 percent higher than the tourist arrivals during the same period in 2018 – which had stood at 1.08 million.

The biggest source market by region is the North East Asian market; which includes China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The North East Asian market made for 24 percent of the total arrivals, with 300,559 arrivals recorded by end of Q3.

The second biggest source market by region is the Western Europe market. It made up for 15.4 percent of the total arrivals, with 192,970 arrivals recorded by end of Q3.

TOP SOURCE MARKETS BY COUNTRY:

• China: 230,349 arrivals
• India: 115,507 arrivals
• Italy: 97,375 arrivals
• Germany: 93,727 arrivals

The Tourism Ministry’s tourist arrival target for the year is set at 1.5 million arrivals. The Maldivian administration had increased the tourism promotion budget allocation to MVR 157 million in its bid to reach the target, and has expanded global promotional activities.

Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has participated in 12 travel fairs as 15 markets, held 5 roadshows at 13 markets, hosted journalists and bloggers from 15 markets on a series of FAM trips, held PR presentations at 11 markets, held 12 joint promotions, and has held two nation-wide promotion campaigns in Maldives.

The MVR 157 million tourism promotion budget is MVR 104 million more than the initial budget allocation. MVR 39.8 million was spent on tourism promotion by the end of the first two quarters.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has announced that his administration was open to further supplementing the budget if necessary.