Over 44,000 tourists have visited the Maldives since the country reopened its borders in July, statistics have shown.
The Maldives closed its borders to tourists earlier in March as a precautionary measure against COVID-19. The tourism-dependent archipelago reopened its borders on July 15.
According to statistics released by the Tourism Ministry, 427,365 tourist arrivals have been recorded in the Maldives this year until November 5th. Out of these, 382,760 arrivals were recorded pre-COVID-19. 44,365 tourists have arrived since border reopening.
The most number of arrivals were from Russia, with 9,519 arrivals recorded from the European nation. This accounts for 21.5 percent of arrivals since border reopening. The second-most number of tourists arrived from the UK, accounting for 3,817 arrivals this year.
14 airlines are currently operating in the Maldives, including local airlines Maldivian and FlyMe. With 16,276 passengers, the most number of arrivals were carried by Emirates. The most number of movements were recorded by Qatar Airways, with 218 flights having operated to the Maldives.
