China emerges as Maldives’ third largest tourism market
Male: China has become the third-largest tourism market in the Maldives.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent closure of Chinese borders, China was one of the most important tourism markets in the Maldives. China held the distinction of being the largest tourism contributor in 2019, registering an impressive count of 284,029 visitors that year.
Following the reopening of Chinese borders earlier this year, Chinese tourism has rapidly regained momentum, now ranking as the third-largest market for Maldives tourism, overtaking the UK. The Maldives has welcomed 91,555 tourists from China thus far this year, which is 8.6 percent of the overall 1,070,765 tourists that visited the Maldives as of July 30.
Among the top 10 countries contributing to the Maldives’ tourism sector, the current rankings stand as follows:
Russia – 126,504 tourists
India – 122,375 tourists
China – 91,555 tourists
UK – 89,769 tourists
Germany – 72,608 tourists
Italy – 68,516 tourists
United States – 44,169 tourists
France – 32,302 tourists
Switzerland – 22,234 tourists
Australia – 19,313 tourists