Maldives posts 13.6% growth in January arrivals

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Maldives has kicked off 2018 with a 13.6 percent growth in tourist arrivals in January, compared to the same period in 2017. The Maldives received a total of 142,351 tourists in January, according to data from the tourism ministry.

Figures from January show Europe as the largest source market for the month, contributing to 53.8 percent of all arrivals; a total of 76,603 Europeans visited the Maldives in January, posting a positive growth of 19.6 percent compared to the same period in 2017. Looking at distinct European markets, Italy contributed 10.1 percent of the arrivals, followed by Italy with 6.7 percent, the United Kingdom with 6.6 percent, Germany with 5.9 percent, and France with 4.5 percent of the total visitor numbers.

The second largest contributor to tourist arrivals in January was the Asia Pacific region, recording a total of 52,525 visitors. Contributing 36.9 percent of the market share, the Asia Pacific region saw a year-on-year growth of 3.1 percent. China was the largest single market in January 2018 with 18.1 percent of the market share, followed by India with 6 percent, and Japan with 2.2 percent.

This was followed by the Americas with 4.6 percent of the market share posting a total of 6,561 visitors, and the Middle East with 3.9 percent of the share recording a total of 5,567 arrivals. The United States booked 2.8 percent of the total tourist arrivals in January 2018, with Saudi Arabia contributing 2.5 percent of the arrivals.

With the exception of China, all other major source markets showed positive gains in January, with Russia, India, France, USA and Saudi Arabia recording strong growth. 40,917 of the total of 43,032 registered tourist beds were operational in January, according to data from the tourism ministry. A total of 810,221 bed nights were also recorded during the period. Occupancy for the January period was recorded at 73.5 percent, up 2.2 percent compared to the same period in 2017.

The Maldives ended 2017 with a record 1.39 million tourist arrivals, as the island destination surpassed the tourist record of 1.29 million set in 2016. A total of 143,041 tourists visited the Maldives in December 2017 — a 19.7 percent increase over the 119,530 tourists in December 2016.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]