- Europe market still reigning strong
- China market sluggish on arrivals
- Three percent dip in July arrivals
Tourism Ministry statistics has shown that tourist arrivals had surpassed 600000 in first seven months of this year.
Statistics published by the Ministry showed that this year so far, 619921 tourists had arrived this year. However, last year the figure in the same period was at 609105, a 1.8 percent increase year on year.
Though the arrivals from January to June had increased, July arrivals dipped significantly. In June 2016, 79034 tourists visited the country, while in June 2015, 81506 tourists visited the country
Breaking down the numbers, this year 157764 tourists had visited from China. This, however, is a significant dip of 11.4 percent as last year in the same period the arrivals from China were at 178114. In the same period this year, 51534 tourists had visited from UK, a rise of 10.3 percent from last year's figure of 46741
Russia accounted for 22386 arrivals in the first seven month period. Last year the figure was at 22128, a rise of 1.2 percent. In the same period, 37981 Italians visited the Maldives, while this figure was at 35854 last year. This is an increase of 5.9 percent.
This year, 53920 Germans visited the Maldives. Last year, in the same period, 51861 German tourists arrived, a four percent increase in arrivals from the country.
