According to the Maldivian Ministry of Tourism, the total number of tourists who had arrived in the Maldives in 2019 so far has reached 646,092.
The arrival count for the first four months of 2019 indicates a 19.7% improvement on the total arrivals during the same period in 2018. During the month of April, a total of 163,114 tourists arrived exclusively which is comparatively a stronger arrival count from the 119,713 tourists arriving during the same month in 2018.
Based on the year-to-date arrival figure, against the monthly percentage increase, the arrivals for April 2019 showed an increase of 36.3% compared to the same month in 2018.
As for tourism demographics, 48% of the total arrivals were male and 52% were females – which is a visible improvement on female tourist numbers compared to the statistics on March 2019.
Europe is still unwavering as the dominant region of tourist arrivals to the Maldives. Statistics from the Ministry of Tourism indicated 55% of the total arrivals so far in 2019 were from Europe, and showed a growth of 18.6% in the market. The total arrivals from the region so far in 2019 has reached 357,650 already.
The Asia and Pacific holds the second highest share with regards to arrivals by region, with a contribution of 36% of the total arrivals and showed a growth stronger than the European region at 19.5% with a total number of arrivals reaching 229,996.
The Americas showed great promise in the market growth with a 33.2% jump and the total number of arrivals from the region to the Maldives so far in the year reaching 33,197 – the market is regarded as a fast growing one to the Maldives.
Middle-East maintained its moderate pacing with a share of 3% on the total number of arrivals and modest growth of 16.7% with a total number of arrivals reaching to 19,253. Surprisingly the Africa region had shown the highest growth rate with a jump of 39.7% and is forecast as a potential market for Maldives tourism.
As for arrivals from individual countries, China still dominates the tourist market with a total number of arrivals reaching 95,272 and a share of 14.7%, however, over the past months, the growth on arrivals has considerably slowed down and was observed only at a positive 8.7% during April.
Italy soared at the second with regards to market share, the total arrivals from the country has reached 67,891 with a share of 10.5% and a splendid market growth of 36.1% observed in April. Germany rests at third with total arrivals at 54,862 and a share of 8.5% while the growth rate was observed at 31.0% so far.
The United Kingdom was at fourth with a market share of 7.6%, and the total arrival at 48,992 with a surprisingly low growth rate of 12.6% – the tourist market over the past months has observed slow growth.
Indian market’s growth is still the most promising, with a growth of 96.3% observed in April and the total number of arrivals reaching 48,876 and a market share as the same as the United Kingdom. India’s tourist market to the Maldives is expected to increase at a steady pace in the coming months as well.
Total beds in the Maldives have reached 47,303 by April 2019 registering a 10.8% increase on the bed capacity. From the total beds available for tourists from various hospitality outlets in the Maldives, 70.8% comes from local resorts.
The registered total of tourist resorts in the Maldives remains at 153 and total beds from resorts at 33,509 with growth in beds at 11.0% while the total number of resorts operating are at 142 and their total bed capacity at 32,118.
The total number of guesthouses registered in the Maldives is already at 549, with just one of them out of operation during April with collective bed capacity at 9,043. The growth in beds was registered at 14.2% during the month. The number of safaris registered and operating in the Maldives is currently at 153 with a combined bed capacity of 2,881.
The bed nights during April 2019 were recorded at 975,095 which is a 22.4% increase from the total bed nights of 796,840 registered at the same month in 2018. The total tourist nights have reached 3,999,549 which is a 13.1% increase by the end of the previous month.
Occupancy rate during April was at 74% which is a 2.4% improvement over the occupancy rate during the same month in 2018.
The guest average stay during the month was at 6.2 days which is a negative 0.2 days compared to the same period in 2018.