Tourist arrivals to the Maldives continued its downward trend slipping 0.6 percent last month in comparison to last year.
According to official tourism statistics, 92,913 tourists had holidayed in the Maldives in May which however is down 0.6 percent from the corresponding period last year.
Maldives' biggest market China suffered a major slip with a 27.1 percent decrease from 23,225 last year to 16،927 in May this year. A boost in arrivals from Europe however, largely stemmed the downward trend for the tropical island destination.
The slide would worry the tourism industry which remains the linchpin of the country's economy as the archipelago had also registered a 0.1 percent decrease in arrivals in April.
The continued slip in arrival numbers comes after the country's tourism managed to avoid a fallout from a state of emergency in February.
The island nation has been embroiled in fresh political turmoil after the Supreme Court on February 1 ordered the immediate release of jailed political leaders including self-exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed.
President Abdulla Yameen Abdulla Gayoom on February 5 had declared state of emergency after his last ditch attempt to convince the top court to revoke the order failed, purged the Supreme Court by arresting two judges and the remaining political leaders and ultimately had the order revoked.
