Maldives records over 100,000 tourist arrivals during the first 35 days of the year

On July 15, 2020, Maldives reopened its borders to tourists of all nationalities with the reopening of several resorts and liveaboards. Currently, there is no mandatory quarantine for arrival, but all tourists are required to fill an online health declaration form within 24 hours prior to departure and submit a negative COVID-19 PCR test result, conducted a maximum 96 hours prior to departure to Maldives.

For Maldives, 2020 ended with the celebration of over 500,000 tourist arrivals for the year, and over 100,000 tourist arrivals since the reopening of borders. On February 04, 2021, a total of 102,107 tourist arrivals were recorded. According to the Ministry of Tourism, 10,004 arrivals were from 1st to 4th February, with a daily average of 2,501 arrivals. The top source market for tourist arrivals is Russia, followed by India and Ukraine. Other top source markets include Kazakhstan, Romania, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, and the United States.

Currently, there are over 140 resorts and over 330 guesthouses in operation, along with over 135 liveaboards and 11 hotels. 27 airlines are connecting Maldives to the rest of the world.

On February 01, 2021, Maldives commenced the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine. President Ibrahim Solih stated that the government aims to provide free COVID-19 vaccine to all citizens and residents of Maldives, in the coming months, and also emphasised the importance of individual responsibility and caution even during this time of renewed hope. Recently, the Ministry of Tourism also launched an initiative to vaccinate people in the tourism sector to create an even safer scenario for the industry. This was initiated at Male’ Social Center. The Minister of Tourism, Dr. Abdulla Mausoom, stated that vaccination arrangements will be made in resorts for the convenience of resort employees and added that vaccination teams would travel to bigger resorts in the future. The Ministry added that 10,000 tourism industry workers will be inoculated during this program including resort staff, guesthouse staff, liveaboard workers, airport representatives and local artists.

The initiation of the vaccination drive is bound to bring hope to the local population, as well as ensure the safety of tourists. This gives the message that Maldives is a low-risk destination for travellers, and will hopefully bring about a surge in tourist arrivals.