China has resumed group flights to 20 countries, including the Maldives.
Chinese travel agencies and online travel companies have resumed group outbound flights to the Maldives, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, and Russia.
Group travel allows tourists to gain cultural experiences while in the Maldives, under various tour packages provided by operators. China hosts a large number of group flights to various destinations and the Maldives is the fourth most popular destination for group flights from China.
China was the top source market for tourist arrivals in the Maldives before the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the Ministry of Tourism, 284,029 tourists arrived in the Maldives from China in 2019. However, tourists from China had not visited the Maldives in the past three years due to the country's travel measures.
The Maldives is now one of the most popular destinations for Chinese citizens after the reopening of the Chinese border. The first flight to arrive since the easing of measures was on January 18. As such, 198 tourists from China arrived in the Maldives in A Beijing Capital Airlines flight. The tourism ministry revealed that China is now in the top 10 tourism markets for the Maldives. The statistics show that China is the 8th top source market 5,390 tourist arrivals so far this year.