On 29th March 2021, Maldives welcomed 100,000 tourists in a single month for the first time since border reopening.

The visitors arrived in Maldives Monday morning from Egypt  and were greeted with a special ceremony on behalf of Maldives Border Miles team, Ministry of Tourism and Velana international Airport. The ceremony was joined by Mr Ahmed Aathif, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr Mohamed Nasheed, President of MAYA, and Mr Abdulla Suood, President of MATATO. 

During the special ceremony, the Principal Immigration officer Faathimath Maajidhaa Hassan  awarded the ‘Aida’ tier card of the Border Miles programme to the couple. 

The couple stated that they were on honeymoon and this is their first time in Maldives. Questioned as to why they chose the Maldives for their honeymoon, the couple remarked on the beautiful nature, sea and beaches of Maldives. The couple will be staying at Intercontinental Maldives Maamunagua Resort for 5 days. 

Last Friday witnessed the highest number of daily tourist arrivals recorded in one day this year indicating that the tourism industry is recovering from the sharp decline caused by COVID-19 last year. 

Statistics published by the Ministry of Tourism reveal that Maldives welcomed over 5,275 tourists on 26th March. India holds the position as the top source market for the Maldives with an arrival figure of 64,059 while Russia holds the second place with an arrival figure of 58,680 arrivals. 

The other top source markets for the Maldivian tourism industry include Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Germany, Romania, Czech Republic, France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. 

Furthermore, The Maldives is currently in the process of a rigorous vaccination campaign and over 14,898 tourism sector employees have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination. 

The Maldives has been making steady efforts to resuscitate tourism across the island nation, and has begun large-scale Covid-19 vaccination programmes for airport workers and tourism sector employees as well. With strict Covid-19 health and safety regulations and travel restrictions in place, only 0.22 percent of tourists arriving in the Maldives test positive for Covid-19.

The record-breaking numbers observed this month and the arrival of over 100,000 visitors in one month paints an optimistic picture of the future of Maldivian tourism. As vaccination campaigns are conducted across the world and travel restrictions are being eased, there is great hope for a complete recovery of the Maldivian tourism industry.