On Wednesday, Maldives hit its goal of welcoming 1.8 million tourists for the year. A flight from Dubai, including Dutch tourist Stefan Mathijs, landed at Velana International Airport at 2:55 pm, and there was a little celebration for the occasion.
Stefan Mathijs plans to spend four days in Maldives, then go to Sri Lanka, and return for another five days.
The tourism ministry shared the main contributors to Maldives’ tourism:
Russia: 200,200
India: 199,187
China: 183,457
United Kingdom: 148,113
Germany: 129,436
Throughout the year, about 5,360 tourists came in on average each day.
Originally, the government expected 1.8 million tourists in the 2023 budget, but they later changed it to 1.9 million. Now, the goal for the next year is to attract two million tourists.
Looking ahead, it seems like there might be fewer European tourists, but more Chinese visitors are expected.
