Tourist arrivals in the Maldives have increased in the last two days, putting the country’s tourism recovery on course to reach pre-COVID levels, according to the latest numbers from the tourism ministry.
According to the most recent visitor arrival numbers, the Maldives received 4,614 tourists on Saturday, the greatest number of daily tourist visits since the pandemic began.
During the pre-COVID period, the country recorded a daily average of 4,713 arrivals in 2019.
Furthermore, Saturday’s record was broken the next day, with the country receiving 4,818 tourist arrivals on Sunday alone, which is twice the daily average for this year.
As the Maldives approaches pre-pandemic levels, Tourism Minister Dr. Abdulla Mausoom had indicated that tourist arrival figures are expected to improve in the coming days. He had also urged people to adhere to the Health Protection Agency’s COVID-19 rules to combat the pandemic and boost tourism in the country.
In the first seven months of this year, the Maldives attracted 564,228 tourists, which is greater than the overall tourist arrivals of 555,594 in 2020. The government anticipates more than one million tourist arrivals in 2021.
According to the data, Russia continues to have the highest number of tourist arrivals with neighboring India coming in second.