China overtakes India as Maldives' second biggest tourist market
1.4 million tourists have spent their holidays in Maldives this year as of Monday.
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The number of tourists visiting Maldives so far this year has reached 1.4 million, with China overtaking India as the second largest source market.
According to statistics released by the tourism ministry on Tuesday, 1.4 million tourists have spent their holidays in Maldives this year as of Monday. That is 13.9% higher than the same period last year.
According to statistics, Russia is still the largest source market.
However, China has now taken over the second position after overtaking India.
Top five source markets:
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Russia - 161,461; 11.5% of total tourists (Russia was the second largest tourist source market last year)
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China - 153,989; 11% of total tourists (China was the 27th largest source market last year)
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India - 153,424; 10.9% of total tourists (India was the largest source market last year)
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United Kingdom - 111,254; 7.9% of total tourists (the UK was the third largest source market last year)
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Germany - 96,056; 6.8% of total tourists (Germany was the fourth largest source market last year)
Chinese tourists resumed visiting Maldives in January after the Chinese government allowed its citizens to leave the country after a three-year border closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before the pandemic, China was the single largest tourist market for Maldives.
According to the tourism ministry's figures:
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43,272 tourists visited Maldives in the first 10 days of October
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Now an average of 4,808 people arrive daily
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The number of tourists who visited Maldives in October was 1.9% higher than the same period last year
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Currently, on average, tourists stay in Maldives for 7.7 days; Last month, the figure was 7.2
A total of 1.68 million tourists visited Maldives last year.
The government aims to attract 1.9 million tourists this year. If tourist arrivals are as high as they are now and given the annual increase in the European winter season, the target could be reached in late December.
Maldives recorded the highest tourist arrivals -- 1.7 million -- in 2019.
