China back at top ten for Maldives arrivals
Not even a week after the first flight landed from China to the Maldives, the country appears to be getting overwhelming support with 2,354 tourist arrivals within the last few days.
On the 18th of January 2023, the Maldives welcomes its first Chinese travellers in over 3 years after China closed its borders due to strict COVID-19 measures. While most countries around the world have started travelling with little to no quarantine rules getting imposed as COVID-19 got left behind at the start of 2022, China only recently eased their measures.
With the first flight landing less than a week back, Capital Airlines marked a big moment in the tourism history of the Maldives as the first visitors from China landed at Velana International Airport. This joyous occasion was celebrated in full Maldivian style as Bodu Beru was played and guests were presented with gifts and warm greetings, marking a fresh start between Maldives and China with the new year 2023.
Before COVID-19 forced countries to close their borders, restricting visitors from travelling to countries, Chinese visitors marked the top of the arrival rates in the Maldives. However, after COVID-19 hit, these numbers changed drastically, and Chinese visitors were soon replaced by Russia, India and Italy. Even with that, the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) continued to put in efforts to keep Chinese travellers engaged as the corporation carried out several marketing activities targeted towards Chinese travellers in 2020 and 2021.
And these efforts may finally be paying-off, not even a week after the first flight landed from China to the Maldives, the country appears to be getting overwhelming support with 2,354 tourist arrivals within the last few days. With those numbers, China is yet again back in the top 10 markets for arrival rates, contributing to 1.9 percent of the total tourist arrivals so far this year.
With China announcing three major airlines, Beijing Capital, China Eastern as well as Hong Kong airlines, to host direct flights to the Maldives, the tourist arrival goal for 2023 was set at 1.8 million by the tourism ministry with the prediction that there would be a 10 percent increase in tourist arrivals after the Chinese Market reopens.
As of now, Russia is still holding the highest visitor arrival rates with Italy closely following. With the overwhelming support that the Maldivian tourism industry is getting from China, these numbers may soon change with China ranking at the number one spot yet again.
