Tourist arrival count nears one million with India back as top source market

Tourist arrivals to the Maldives in 2021 – have neared one million with India as the top source market.

The latest statistics by the Tourism Ministry show that a total of 781,325 tourists visited the island destination as of September 6 – with 218,675 additional arrivals needed to near one million.

India has become the top source market once again – contributing 21.5% to the total arrival count. Since the reopening of borders in July last year, India and Russia have been the top two leading tourist source markets to the Maldives. Russia had been the leading market from last year until early February this year, before India took the top spot. However, Russia took the lead again in May, when Maldives had banned tourists from South Asian countries due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in those countries.

Russia now remains as the second top source market – with Germany taking the third spot.

In the first six days of September, Maldives has recorded 21,875 tourist arrivals – with average daily arrivals standing at 4,227. The average duration of the stay of tourists is between eight and nine days.

The tourism industry of the Maldives was deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic last year – with the island destination recording mere 555.494 tourist arrivals at the end of the year.