The highest number of annual tourist arrivals since tourism began in the Maldives has been reached this year, exceeding the rate of arrivals before the covid-19 pandemic.
Tourism Ministry statistics show that 1,742,043 tourists have visited the Maldives so far this year. The previous annual record was set in 2019 with a total of 1,702,043 tourists.
Tourist arrivals over the past three years
- 555,494 tourists in 2020
- 1,321,937 tourists in 2021
- 1,675,303 in 2022
The biggest crisis faced by the Maldives tourism industry was the global covid-19 pandemic that struck in late 2019. The first covid patient in the Maldives was detected on March 7, 2020. The country's tourism started feeling the effects of covid-19 in February that year.
As a result of the pandemic, the country's borders were closed between March 27, 2020 and July 14, 2020. The country lost 1.1 million tourists due to covid-19. But the Maldives was the first Asian country to reopen borders amid the pandemic.
Before covid-19, the Maldives tourism industry was most badly affected by the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The country lost 221,396 tourists after the waves struck.
The recovery of Maldives tourism to the pre-pandemic state was mainly aided by Russian tourists. Russia, which was the seventh largest before the covid-19 pandemic, is now the top source market for tourists to the Maldives.
Top markets for tourists in 2019
- China - 284,029 tourists
- India - 166,030 tourists
- Italy - 136,369 tourists
Top tourist markets at present
- Russia - 196,643 tourists
- India - 191,985 tourists
- China - 179,675 tourists
When the covid-19 pandemic struck, there were 51,432 tourist beds in the Maldives. At present, there are 62,778 beds in operation.
The Tourism Ministry and the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) undertook many efforts to help the country's tourism recover from the pandemic. As a result, the Maldives won the title of "World's Leading Destination" for four consecutive years.
