President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has stated the aim of the administration is to attract 1.6 million tourists to the Maldives this year.
One of the most challenging decisions the government had to take during the COVID-19 pandemic was closing the borders of the Maldives. The Maldives closed its borders for the first time on March 27, 2020, and reopened on July 15, 2020. Delivering the Presidential Address at the Parliament of the Maldives, President Solih expressed reopening the borders was a difficult decision at that time, but was crucial in the efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The president noted the Maldives achieved more than its target in 2021 and ended the year with a positive outlook. The government projected to bring one million tourists to the Maldives by 2021. However, 1.3 million tourists visited the Maldives last year.
The statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism show that 109,842 tourists have visited the Maldives so far this year.
The government also launched homestay tourism in January 2022 to promote the Maldives as an affordable tourist destination in foreign markets. The government is also working to expand meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) tourism, sports tourism, and cultural tourism in the Maldives.