Maldives records over 800,000 tourist arrivals between January-September period

MALE, Sept. 15 : Maldives has received 809,764 tourists between Jan. 1 and Sept. 13 this year, local media citing data from the Ministry of Tourism reported here Wednesday.

Tourist arrivals between January and September increased 104.4 percent compared to the same period in 2020. Maldives' borders were closed for three months in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, greatly reducing arrivals in that year.

The Tourism Ministry data showed that the country received 143,599 tourists in August, the highest in a single month in 2021. The average daily arrivals for 2021 was above 4,000.

The data also indicated that India was the largest source of tourists in 2021, making up 22.4 percent of all arrivals. Russia came second with 20.4 percent of arrivals.