First passengers from Xian arrived Maldives this morning with the inaugural flight of Maldivian carrying 199 tourists. Xian is the most populous city of North West China recently named as one of the 13 emerging mega cities by the Economic Intelligence Unit.
This is the third inaugural flight this month by Maldivian targeting secondary cities. The recent new routes connecting China are Nanjing, Changsha and Xian all of which would be linked by weekly flights.
All of the flights were warmly welcomed by MMPRC to the beats of traditional boduberu by “Dhammaanuboduberu”.
The commencement of new routesare expected to further boost Chinese arrivals which currently hold the number one position in source markets with 363,626 having visited the destination in 2014. Chinese tourists have maintained a sustainable growth pattern over the last five years. As an increasing number of Chinese tourists choose Maldives as a more desired tropical holiday destination, efforts need to be made to sustain the market. The Chinese tourists are also now the world’s biggest spenders. Good connectivity will play a vital role in bringing in more tourists from this lucrative market.