Tourist arrivals to Maldives grows by 8% in first three quarters

Tourist arrivals in the Maldives increased by 8 per cent in the first three quarters of 2018, with over 1 million visitors visiting the island country from January to September statistics from the Maldives Tourism Ministry.

According to official figures, over 100,000 tourists visited the Maldives in September, up 1.5 percent compared to the same period last year. In total, 1,080,459 tourists have arrived in the holiday islands so far this year.

The Tourism Ministry said China remains the largest source market with 222,108 arrivals so far this year, representing a market share of 20.6 per cent. The other leading markets are Britain, Italy, France and Russia.

The Ministry said the expansion of the country’s main international airport is expected to boost visitor numbers and the government is aiming for 1.5 million tourist arrivals by the end of 2018, reported menafn.