The Maldives on Sunday welcomed the one millionth visitor of 2016 with a special welcoming ceremony at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.
Alefiya Merchant from India, who arrived on Air India flight Sunday afternoon with her husband Ali Asgar Godhrawala for their honeymoon, was welcomed by High Commissioner of India to the Maldives, Akhilesh Mishra, deputy ministers at the Ministry of Tourism Hussain Lirar and Shazail Shiyam, Acting Managing Director of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) Haris Mohamed, and other senior officials from the Tourism Ministry, MMPRC, Maldives Airports Company Limited and representatives of the tourism industry.
Indian High Commissioner Akhilesh Mishra presented the couple with a commemorative plaque. A special gift was also presented by Managing Director of MMPRC Haris Mohamed. The Lucky honeymoon couple also received a complimentary holiday package from Hurawalhi Resort.
img:http://s4.psmnews.mv/images/660x400/14766073357310.jpg|Function held at INIA to officially welcome the one millionth visitor of 2016 - Photo: PSM News
Since the grand welcoming of the first visitor of Visit Maldives Year in the early morning of the 1st of January, milestones of reaching 500,000th and 750,000th were colourfully celebrated.
MMPRC said “an Indian national being the distinguished one millionth visitor is of great significance to the Maldives providing a great opportunity to promote the Maldives as a tourist destination to the Indian market.”
India is a rapidly growing market having attained its position within the top ten single source markets climbing up to reaching amongst the top 5 source markets to the Maldives.
Arrivals from India showed a positive growth of 21.5% from January to July when compared to the same period in 2015. During this period in 2016 a total of 34,884 Indian tourists are recorded to have arrived in Maldives.