Maldives aims to match last year's tourist arrivals despite Middle East conflict

The government's immediate objective is to ensure tourist arrivals to the Maldives do not fall below last year's total despite disruptions caused by the conflict in the Middle East, Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Mohamed Ameen has said.

Speaking in the People's Majlis on Tuesday, Ameen was responding to a question from Huraa MP Dr Anara Naeem on the government's response to the impact of the conflict on the tourism sector.

The minister said a committee of ministers had been established under the direction of President Dr Mohamed Muizzu to coordinate measures aimed at reducing the impact of the conflict on the economy and tourism.

"Because the President dedicated time daily toward this matter and took very specific measures, we have managed to reach this point without any disruptions to the public's essential everyday needs," Ameen said.

He said tourist arrivals had increased during the first two months of the year compared with the corresponding period in 2025, supporting the government's target of attracting 2.5 million visitors this year.

However, Ameen said the conflict in the Middle East had affected tourism because the Maldives relies heavily on airlines from the region.

According to the minister, tourist arrivals in March and April were around 25 per cent lower than during the same period last year.

"Nevertheless, through the work of the committee formed by the President, the cooperation of the entire industry, and the efforts of many individuals, we have successfully mitigated these issues to a large extent, and we have achieved a very good percentage increase this month," he said.

"By the grace of God, even though we suffered such losses for three months due to the Middle East war, our current projection and ongoing efforts are aimed at ensuring that totals do not fall below last year's figures by the end of this year."

The Maldives recorded 2.2 million tourist arrivals in 2025. More than one million tourists have visited the country during the first six months of this year.

Ameen said maintaining last year's arrival figures despite the impact of the conflict would represent a significant outcome for the tourism sector.

He said the government's response had included:

"With these measures, we were able to maintain things to this extent. The coordinated effort between the entire government of Maldives, the tourism industry, and the airlines was truly exemplary," he said.

The Maldives welcomed its one millionth tourist of the year on 20 June. Last year, that milestone was reached during the first week of June.

The country is currently recording an average of about 5,000 tourist arrivals per day.