The Maldives has recorded a total of 9,538 tourist arrivals in the month of September 2020. According to statistics from the Maldives Immigration, Russia has now overtaken the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the leading tourist source market.
With the growth of a whopping 338% and 2065 arrivals, Russia remains the top source market, in terms of tourist arrivals in September 2020. While arrivals from UAE dropped by 37% compared to August, Emirates still remains the second-highest performing tourist market with 1029 arrivals. Followed by, the United States came in third place with 935 arrivals, a growth of 39%. Figures indicate 625, 466, 444 arrivals from the United Kingdom, Spain, and Brazil respectively.
According to the Maldives Immigration, the average number of tourist arrivals per day has increased by 45.90% with an average of 318 arrivals. In the Month of August, the average number of tourist arrivals stood at 218 arrivals per day. Furthermore, figures indicate 696 tourists arrived on a single day in September 2020. Meanwhile, 97 tourist arrivals were the lowest recorded figure on a single day.
As of the end of September 2020, a total of 18,867 tourists have arrived in the Maldives (since border reopening). According to the Ministry of Tourism, before the border closure, the Maldives has welcomed a total of 382,760 tourists from around the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on the Maldives tourism industry as arrivals saw a decline of -11% in February 2020. However, arrivals have started slowly picking up since the border reopening.
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The Maldives Immigration, alongside joint stakeholders; the Ministry of Tourism, Maldives Marketing, and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), and Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), have also introduced the Maldives Border Miles Progam in September 2020. However, the loyalty program will officially be implemented on 1st December 2020. In addition to that, the Maldives Immigration believes the border miles program will take the tourism sector of Maldives to its peak in the foreseeable future.
