Tourists from the United Kingdom account for the highest proportion of resort stays among visitors to the Maldives, while the country has recorded more than 1.2 million tourist arrivals so far this year, statistics from the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation show.
Ministry statistics show that 1.2 million tourists had visited the Maldives by 4 August.
Resorts remain the most popular accommodation option among tourists visiting the country, accounting for 73.1 per cent of all visitors. A total of 922,974 tourists stayed at resorts during the period.
Among individual markets, tourists from the United Kingdom recorded the highest proportion of resort stays. Of the 99,886 British tourists recorded in the statistics for the period, 87.3 per cent stayed at resorts.
Switzerland ranked second in terms of the proportion of visitors staying at resorts. Of the 24,380 tourists who arrived from Switzerland, 86.3 per cent stayed at resorts.
Russian tourists ranked third, with 81.5 per cent of the 184,927 visitors from Russia staying at resorts.
The Maldives currently has 184 resorts operating to serve tourists. Ministry statistics show that the resorts have a combined bed capacity of 45,865, representing 66 per cent of the total beds currently in operation across the country.
Separate latest statistics published by the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation show that tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom have now exceeded 100,000. A total of 101,391 British tourists have visited the Maldives so far this year, accounting for 7.6 per cent of total arrivals during the period.
The figure is lower than the 125,500 tourists who visited from the United Kingdom during the corresponding period last year.
The United Kingdom is currently the Maldives’ third-largest tourist source market. It also ranked third at the end of last year, when a total of 201,797 British tourists visited the country.
China and Russia are the two largest tourist source markets ahead of the United Kingdom. So far this year, the Maldives has received 232,148 tourists from China, 188,543 from Russia and 101,391 from the United Kingdom.
Overall tourist arrivals have reached 1.2 million so far this year. However, the figure remains lower than the number of tourists recorded during the corresponding period last year.
The ongoing war in the Middle East has caused major disruptions to global travel, with the effects also being felt in the Maldives.
Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Mohamed Ameen has said he remains fully confident that the number of tourists visiting the Maldives this year will not fall below last year’s total.