News

Saudi Arabia moves up to top ten tourism markets list

Saudi Arabia has become one of the top ten source markets for Maldives tourism, following a decline in Ukrainian tourists visiting the Maldives.

The Tourism Ministry released statistics based on an analysis of tourism arrival patterns between March 17 and 23.

The Ukrainian market is one of the top source markets for tourism. However, the most significant change identified in the analysis was that Ukraine was no longer among the top ten countries from which tourists visit the Maldives. As a result of the Ukraine - Russia war, Ukraine is effectively closed off, and its residents are unable to leave the country. This in turn has affected Maldives' tourism.

Statistics show only 72 tourists visited the Maldives from Ukraine over the analysis period. While Ukraine has dropped from the list of top ten source markets, Saudi Arabia has replaced it with 9,566 arrivals.

The numbers show 394,200 tourists from across the world have visited the Maldives thus far this year. This is an increase of 47.8 percent compared to the same period last year. In 2021, 266,754 tourists arrived in the Maldives during the same period.

The average number of arrivals this year is 4,790. They spend 8.6 days in the Maldives on average.