India tourist arrivals to Maldives fall by 42%
In March 2023 18,099 Indian tourists arrived in Maldives, but received only 8,322 tourists this March. This is a decrease of 54%.
By
Aishath Fareeha Abdulla
In the first four months of this year, the number of Indian tourists visiting the Maldives has declined by 42.2% compared to the same period last year.
India has been the primary tourist source market in the past three years. Earlier this year, however, three Maldivian government officials made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which sparked a campaign in India calling out to boycott Maldives.
The number of tourists from the country has declined month-on-month since then.
According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism, the number of tourists from India arriving in Maldives from January to April last year was 73,785. As of April this year, just 42,638 tourists had come in from India.
Statistics of tourist arrivals from India January-April, compared by this year and last year show:
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January: 18,612 tourists in 2023. This year, 15,003 tourists arrived. This is a decrease by 19.4%
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February: 19,497 tourists in 2023. 11,522 this year. This is a decrease by 40.9%
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March: 18,099 tourists in 2023. 8,322 tourists this year. This is a decrease of 54%
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April: 17,577 tourists in 2023. 7,791 this year. This is a decrease of 55.6%
According to the Tourism Ministry, India is now sixth in the most popular tourist-arrival destination list for Maldives. The countries that supply the most are:
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1-
China
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2-
Russia
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3-
United Kingdom
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4-
Italy
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5-
Germany
According to the ministry, a total of 772,651 tourists arrived in Maldives this year as of April. A total of 798,610 tourists have arrived in Maldives as of the 5th of this month.
