Most of the Maldives’ top source markets have already crossed pre-pandemic levels and the leading five markets for the
Indian Ocean destination so far this year are Russia, India, UK, China and Germany
Indian Ocean Islands
Maldives inches closer to 1.8m target
The Maldives welcomed its one millionth tourist for 2023 last month, almost a month ahead of achieving the same target in 2022, making it on track to achieve the national arrival target of 1.8 million tourists by the end of 2023.
The one millionth tourist for this year was British national Anton Pavlov, who arrived on July 16 with this family. Last year, the Maldives achieved its one millionth traveller in mid-August.
The Maldives is a well-known destination for tourists from the UK. As the third-highest arrival market to the Maldives, the UK has recorded consistent growth, even during challenging times. In 2022, the UK market witnessed a remarkable 185.6 per cent increase in arrivals. To build on this success, Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (Visit Maldives) has entered into a joint marketing campaign with TravelBag (DNATA UK), from May 2023 to April 2024.
This year marks the first time that the China market, one of the strongest markets, has reached the top 5 since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic
Apart from the obvious leisure focus, Visit Maldives has also been working to position itself as the ideal MICE destination, with unique visuals of laid-back meetings under the sun and networking on the beach.
Another key event driving arrival numbers this year was the resumption of direct flights between the Maldives and China, one of the top performing markets since January 2023. After a three-year hiatus, China resumed direct flights to the Maldives on January 18 this year, which positively impacted the arrival numbers.
The Chinese market consistently topped the arrival charts prior to the Covid-19 pandemic period and is already firmly in the top 4th source market spot for the Maldives in 2023, with a staggering 1,659.5 per cent growth in comparison to the same period last year.
The Visit Maldives Storytellers’ Conference 2023 (from May 30 to June 2) is anticipated to increase the arrivals further in the coming months.
Most of the top source markets have already surpassed pre-pandemic arrivals. The top five markets for the Maldives thus far this year are Russia, India, UK, China and Germany.
India had consistently remained at the top arrivals spot, especially post-covid. India, having exceeded pre-pandemic arrival numbers in 2021, is currently ranked at the #2 arrivals spot, with Russia on number 1.
Additionally, 84,763 travellers from the UK, 77,202, travellers from China and 69,074 travellers from Germany have visited the Maldives this year (as of July 15). The UK and German markets had both exceeded pre-pandemic arrival figures by 2022.
This year marks the first time that the China market, one of the strongest markets, has reached the top 5 since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, Visit Maldives participated in Riyadh Travel Fair to strengthen brand presence in the KSA market, achieve growth in arrivals, promote halal tourism, and target affluent travellers in the Middle East luxury segment.
As of April 30, the Maldives has welcomed 23,453 tourists from the Middle Eastern market with Saudi Arabia ranking as the top 19th market to the Maldives. Visit Maldives has planned several activities targeting the Middle East market under the effort to maintain destination visibility and increase arrivals. This includes joint-marketing campaigns; informative webinars; participation in major fairs and exhibitions; and hosting roadshows and familiarisation trips.