Tourist arrivals dwindle during offseason after 16 years
"We have to work harder to maintain the occupancy of the resorts. We need to improve the advertising of Maldives," Nazeer said.
By
Ahmed Mizyal
The number of tourists arriving in Maldives during the off-season this year has declined compared to the off-season of the previous two years, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism.
The number of tourists arriving in the last two months after high season has declined compared to the same period last two years.
Number of tourist arrivals by individual months
May
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2022 - 125,528 tourists
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2023 - 120,959 tourists
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2024 - 119,875 tourists
The number of tourists arriving in May this year was 0.9% lower than the same month last year.
June (1 - 12)
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2022 - 44,849 tourists
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2023 - 45,161 tourists
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2024 - 44,013 tourists
In an interview with Atoll Times last month, Ahmed Nazeer, Secretary General of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), said that Maldives' resorts are facing a long off-season again this year as they did 16 years ago. He said occupancy at most resorts is now averaging around 40%.
One of the main reasons is that the number of Indian tourists coming to Maldives is decreasing. Indian tourist arrivals have declined by 41% compared to last year.
Nazeer added that the off-season occupancy of Maldives' resorts is declining sharply this year as other tourist destinations opened after the pandemic and reduced prices in efforts to attract more tourists. Improving their destination marketing is another reason, he said.
"We have to work harder to maintain the occupancy of the resorts. We need to improve the advertising of Maldives," Nazeer said.
900K tourists to-date
The number of tourist arrivals in the first four months of the year, despite the decline in the last two months, remained higher than the previous two years. The total number of tourists arriving as of June 12 was also higher than the same period last year. Thus:
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2022 - 747,183 tourists
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2023 - 854,405 tourists
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2024 - 936,258 tourists
The most visited tourist markets this year are:
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1-
China - 107,940
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2-
Russia - 96,179
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3-
United Kingdom - 88,209
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4-
Italy - 76,925
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5-
Germany - 74,796
The government is aiming to attract two million tourists this year. Tourism Minister Ibrahim Faisal estimates that the number will increase to more than two million with the proper promotion of Maldives' tourism.
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