The final quarter of 2018 observed modest performance from Maldives tourism industry.
While it was the peak season, arrivals had gained momentum during October reaching 127,393 and in December 150,818 total arrivals were recorded which was also the highest monthly arrival recorded in 2018.
The arrivals had increased by 3.1% during the final quarter to a total of 403,815 but the growth was comparatively smaller than the first quarter of last year.
By end of December 2018 the total number of arrivals throughout the year had reached to 1,484,274 and registered a growth of 6.8% for the period.
Four new resorts opened up during Q4 2018 and started its operations with a combined bed capacity of 336. The resorts that opened during the period include Kudahoo Maldives Private Island, Sun Aqua Iru Veli Maldives, Carpe Diem Beach Resort and Spa and Lux North Male’ Atoll.
In addition to this, JW Marriott Maldives Resort and Spa re-opened with 31 beds. During the final quarter 24 new guesthouses commenced their operations with a combined bed capacity of 118 while no new vessels or hotels came into operation.
By the end of the final quarter of 2018 the registered number of tourist establishments in Maldives reached 825 with a combined bed capacity of 45,154. On average 813 of the registered properties were operational with a total bed capacity of 41,887.
These include 136 resorts with a total bed capacity of 29,400, 12 hotels with 1,759 beds, 490 guesthouses with 8,000 beds and 145 safari vessels with 2,728 beds.
The total bed nights of all the tourist accommodation facilities for the period reached 9,477,680 and recorded a growth of 10.3%.
Occupancy rate of these establishments by end of 2018 was observed at 62.1% which is an increase of just 1% compared to 2017. The occupancy rate for the final quarter was at 64% and registered a decline by 1.4% compared to the same period in 2017.