The Maldives welcomed a record number of daily arrivals on Sunday, the most since its border reopening in July 2020.
The Maldives closed its borders to tourists on March 27, 2020 as a precautionary measure against COVID-19. The tourism-dependent archipelago reopened its borders on July 15 the same year, and the number of arrivals has been steadily increasing since then.
Maldives Tourism Minister, Dr. Abdulla Mausoom said a record number of tourists arrived in the country since border opening on Sunday. This also marks the most number of tourists to have arrived in the country in a single day thus far this year. The minister credited the new record to cooperation from all industry workers and thanked them for their contribution.
According to the Tourism Ministry's statistics, over 600,000 tourists have visited the Maldives thus far this year. The average daily tourist arrival numbers are above 3,000. Tourists spend an average of nine days in the Maldives, and the current top source market for tourists is Russia.
The Maldives welcomed 1.7 million tourists in 2019, and the number fell to 555.494 in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government hopes to welcome 1.5 million tourists this year. The target can be achieved if daily arrivals are maintained above 2,500.
