Tourist numbers jump 18.5 percent in March

Tourist arrivals recorded double-digit growth in March compared to the same month last year, despite travel warnings, and a state of emergency.

According to statistics released Tuesday, 133,466 tourists visited during March 2018, up 18.5 percent from March last year.

However there was a slump in tourists from China, which is a normally a major supplier of holidaymakers.

There were 13,203 Chinese visitors to the Maldives in March, compared to 18,203 for the same period in 2017.

A surge in European visitors appears to have offset this decline, including 13,198 visitors from  Italy and 14,692 from Germany.

Europe has made the biggest contribution to the tourism market during the past three months, with 56.8 percent of the total visitors.

Germany’s ambassador to the Maldives Jorn Rohde said tour operators were questioning the trustworthiness of visitor figures.

Nobody from the Guesthouse Association of Maldives or the Liveaboard Association of Maldives was available to comment on the latest arrival numbers.

The Maldives welcomed a record 1.3 million tourists last year, after the government fell short of reaching a target of 1.5 million the past two years.