Chinese tourists will begin arriving in June: Minister

Tourism minister Dr Abdulla Mausoom said on Tuesday that the Chinese market has opened and the maximum number of tourists from the country will start arriving in June 2020.

A ceremony was held at Velana International Airport on Tuesday to welcome the 1.6 millionth tourist whose arrival marks a state milestone for the year.

Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Mausoom referred to the Russia-Ukraine war and said that such actions by major countries of the world are causing a slowdown in the economies of smaller countries like the Maldives.

"These big people [countries] need to stop this hatred. The economies of small countries like us, which were built behind them, are suffering. If the Russia-Ukraine things that are happening in Europe end, the economy will grow exceptionally," Mausoom said.

"The biggest positive is that we will get an additional 10% by least if the Chinese market is added to this year's figure."

The minister expects the Chinese market to start recovering in January where Chinese New Year holiday season falls.

The minister said that even now Chinese tourists always come, but the difference is that big groups have dropped.

"I'm hoping people will come [in January] to enjoy during the Chinese New Year. They’re already arriving,  albeit in smaller numbers. But the Chinese used to come in large [groups] in the style they came in [earlier]. I want them to come that way again. But it might not quite happen by January," the minister said.

"As far as flight bookings are concerned, direct flights [from China] have been requested for the end of the second quarter."

While this year's tourism target was achieved with just 11 days left for the end of the year, Minister Mausoom's speech highlighted other important tourism numbers and the markets with the highest number of tourist arrivals.

The two markets with the highest number of tourist arrivals are India and Russia. On the number of tourist arrivals, the minister said the numbers of the two countries were the same recently. Mausoom said that while India and Russia are recently the same in terms of number of tourist arrivals, when it comes to beds/night Russia is still ahead.  

"If you look at spending, the Russians [spend more]. A lot of Russians come to upmarket resorts. So the Russian market is very important in terms of tourism revenue," Mausoom said.

"The market from a nearby location is required to clear these loopholes in tourist arrival trends. By putting out promotion packages and sourcing nearby markets, so India is important."

Mausoom said it has been a challenging year despite achieving the tourism target set for this year and overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It's been a huge loss like never before, especially in our source markets. because of the South Asian conflict. Fuel prices were so high that it also made flights costlier," the minister said.

Further, the minister said:

Mausoom had earlier estimated that 2 million tourists would arrive next year. However, the estimates prepared by the Finance Ministry since then suggest that the same number of tourists will not arrive in the Maldives next year.

However, even this Tuesday, Mausoom reiterated what he had predicted earlier.

"Since tourism is very fragile, arrivals will have to be reviewed. If we go by the current trend, we will be able to surpass the existing calculations by the end of 2023," the minister said.