Tourist arrivals up 10.6% in May despite drop in Chinese arrivals

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Tourist arrivals register a year-on-year growth of 10.6 per cent, despite a decline in arrivals from China, according to latest figures published by the Ministry of Tourism. May 2018 recorded a total arrival of 92,913, bringing the total number of tourist arrivals this year to 632, 729.

Europe was the biggest market during the period, contributing to over 54 per cent of the arrivals. A total of 341,623 European travellers visited the Maldives by May this year, which is a 17 per cent increment compared to the January to May period in 2017.

Visitors from the Asia Pacific region come in second with a contribution of 37.6 per cent, and a total arrival of 237,816 tourists. It is a 2.1 per cent year-on-year increase. The Americas had a contribution of 4.7 per cent with 29,551 visitors, the Middle East with 2.9 per cent and 18,564 visitors and the Africa region contributing 0.8 per cent of the arrivals with 5,094 visitors.

Looking at the top ten individual markets, the Chinese market contributed 16.5 per cent, Italy with 8.4 per cent, followed by Germany with 8.3 per cent, and the United Kingdom and Russia with 8.1 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively.

Other top markets include India (5.3 per cent), France (4.6 per cent), USA (2.8 per cent, Switzerland (2.7 per cent) and Japan (2.6 per cent). The Chinese market registered a decline for the period of May, however the Maldives saw positive growth from Russia with a rise in 27 per cent, France with a hike of 22.4 per cent and Italy with a rise of 12.5 per cent, followed by Germany and the UK with 12.3 per cent and 11.9 per cent hikes, respectively.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]