Ministry of Tourism has revealed over 555,000 tourist arrivals were recorded in the Maldives in 2020.
As per the statistics of the tourism ministry, the Maldives recorded 555,213 tourist arrivals in 2020, including 172,366 arrivals after reopening borders on July 15. Only 1,701 tourists visited the Maldives in July immediately upon reopening borders, while this figure rose to 7,628 and 9,538 in August and September respectively. 21,515 arrivals were recorded in October and 35,759 arrivals were recorded in November, before ending the year with 96,225 arrivals in December. The total number of arrivals recorded in December had exceeded the combined total for the previous five months.
Upon reopening borders in July, the daily average of tourist arrivals had been around 100 tourists per day. However, the Maldives ended the year with an average of 3,104 arrivals per day.
Since reopening borders, the highest number of tourist arrivals were recorded from Russia with 31,800 arrivals. Meanwhile, 27,667 tourists arrived from India and 19,686 tourists arrived from the UK.
Maldives reopened its borders for tourists on July 15, more than three months after borders were closed due to COVID-19. Several international airlines have resumed operations to the Maldives since borders were reopened.