Maldives tourism is enjoying a surprising and considerable uptick of US and Indian travelers flocking in to the archipelago for vacationing.
Although the local tourism has experienced a slip in China market travelers, the receding numbers of the market seems to have been adjusted against the booming US and Indian holidaymakers.
Statistics from Tourism Ministry has confirmed that by November 2017 Maldives has been graced by a total of 70,372 travelers originating from India against the 57,264 visitors during the same time-frame of 2016. This marks a drastic increase of Indian traveler figures by 22.9% while during the month of November alone, 7,231 holidaymakers from India visited Maldives.
In 2016, tourist visits from India had stayed at 6,895 during the month of November, registering a 4.9% hike.
While it appears Indian vacationers are on the rise, US holidaymakers had also increased in numbers during the run of 2017 so far with as many as 34,411 tourists visiting various hospitality venues of Maldives. This is a 20.1% increased compared to last year's 28,651 US originated vacationers who had flocked into Maldives.
During the month of November 2017, a total of 3,961 tourists from US had visited Maldives which marks a significant 35.6% increase against last year's visitor count of 2,921 during November exclusively.
One of the most prominent reasons behind Maldives becoming a favorite destination spot for Indians is contributed by its Bollywood auteurs who had taken up on various social media platforms to share clicks and posts during the time they vacationed at Maldives.
B-Town behemoths like the Bachchan family, heartthrob Hritik Roshan and the new femme fatale of Bollywood Sonakshi Sinha had spend their vacations in Maldivian resorts - which they had boasted in their respective social media handles.
Even Bollywood's action king Ajay Devgn and family had graced Maldives earlier this year. Devgn had shared various Instagram posts of wife Kajol along with children Nysa and Yug. Other B-Town celebrities who visited Maldives included Shilpa Shetty as well.
In spite of overwhelming travel hours from the US, it appears the visitor number from the West end has started to rise. However holidaymakers launching off from the US had to go through a painstaking 17.24 hours of flight time before they can touch their feet on local soil making Maldives a less than likely destination for the budget-vacationers.
Maldives Monetary Authority's (MMA) "Quarterly Economic Bulletin" suggests the rise in holidaymaker numbers contributes to the boom of vacationers from US and India during the current year. The bulletin had also suggested the significant increase of tourists from India and Thailand had more than accommodated against the decline of China tourist market.
