The Maldives welcomed 139,746 international visitors this past May, a 3 per cent increase from the 135,614 tourists who arrived during the corresponding month last year, according to newly released statistics from the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. The island nation recorded an average of 6,100 daily arrivals through the end of May, the ministry reported, though cumulative arrivals for the first five months of the year fell 4.7 per cent to 921,115 from 966,358 visitors during the same timeframe last year.
Ministry officials primarily attribute the broader downturn to the suspension of incoming flights from the West Asia region, a disruption directly linked to the ongoing war there. Although some airlines have gradually begun to resume operations, the conflict heavily impacted the nation's critical tourism sector in both March and April, when incoming arrivals plummeted by 20.7 per cent and 25.5 per cent, respectively, compared to the preceding year.
The government has initiated active efforts to attract visitors from alternative destinations in order to resolve this shortfall, working to establish new flight routes and recover the momentum lost in the sector. Despite the decline, China leads traditional markets with 143,917 arrivals this year, followed by Russia with 125,096 visitors, the only demographic segments surpassing the 100,000-visitor threshold, and the United Kingdom with 80,323 arrivals. The tourism ministry stated that established targets will be reviewed only after further observation.