The government of Maldives has stated it expects the tourist arrivals to decline by 12% this year.
Speaking at a press conference, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer said the tourism sector, which the Maldivian economy is highly dependent on, will decline significantly due to the global COVID-19 outbreak. Initially, 1.86 million tourists were expected to visit the country by the end of 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government now expects tourist arrivals to be between 1.10 million and 1.53 million.
The finance minister said bed nights on average will decrease between 8% and 21% compared to 2019. He remarked efforts are underway to minimise the impact of the economy due to the global COVID-19 outbreak.
So far, 380,928 tourists have visited Maldives this year. This includes 173,347 tourists in January, 149,786 visits in February and 57,795 visits so far in March. The tourist arrivals in the first 15 days of March 2020 has decreased by 34.7% compared to March 2019. Moreover, 198,120 bed nights were cancelled during the period, while 339,362 bookings were made during the period.