Maldives tourist arrivals fall 5.3% in March

Tourist arrivals to Maldives in March dropped 5.3% year-on-year to 76,469, whilst arrivals from China, one of the country’s major tourist markets, dropped a drastic 28.4% to 6,417.

Arrivals from Europe decreased to 54,630 from 57,898 in 2011. However, strong arrivals from Germany pushed arrivals from Western Europe into positive growth figures. 10,232 visitors arrived in Maldives from Germany last March, a 14.9% increase over 2011’s figures.

Lowered arrivals figures for March followed domestic unrest in Maldives earlier in February this year, resulting in the cancellation of chartered flights to China by the country’s only international carrier, Mega Maldives. Services to China have since been resumed; however, it remains to be seen whether the country will see a rebound in arrivals as its domestic situation stabilizes, or whether tourists will switch to other destinations, such as Sri Lanka, which recorded a 21.3% YOY increase in arrivals last March.

Visits from East Asia increased 44.3% to 10,148, whilst arrivals from China recorded a 6% growth to 1,442, whilst a further 13,908 arrivals were recorded from India, a marginal 2.1% improvement on the previous year.

Improvements in arrivals figures from India and China occurred in the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s continued shifting of its regional focus towards South and East Asia as the country continues to target 2.5 million tourist arrivals by 2016.