Thirty-two per cent of the tourists who visited the Maldives last year were professionals from various fields or private business owners, statistics from the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation show.
Business owners and managers constituted an additional 26 per cent of arrivals, which combined with the professional demographic accounted for 58 per cent of the total tourist influx last year, the Maldives Visitor Survey published by the tourism ministry revealed. Technical workers and technicians made up 8 per cent of the total, while service and sales employees, administrative staff, and retirees each evenly accounted for 6 per cent of surveyed arrivals.
The highest volume of individuals travelling to the island nation for business purposes last year originated from neighbouring India, the visitor survey indicated. This business segment represented 55 per cent of all tourists visiting from that country. The United States occupied the second position on this demographic list with 49 per cent, whereas Germany and Spain identified as the two European nations sending the highest volume of tourists to the island nation tied for third with 41 per cent of their visitors arriving for commercial purposes.
Six out of every ten people who visited last year were professionals or private entrepreneurs, the ministry stated, highlighting that the destination has maintained its popularity among high income earners. A total of 1,180,195 tourists have visited the Maldives so far this year, statistics show, including 9,638 visitors who travelled for various business purposes.