Maldives tourist arrivals flat in August

Tourist arrivals to the Maldives were flat in August, with just a two percent increase from the same period last year, according to official figures from the Tourism Ministry.

There were 123,992 visitors to the Maldives last month, compared to August 2017 when there were 121,310.

There was a 3.5 percent drop in the number of visitors from the Asia-Pacific region, but a rise of 10.6 percent in the number of holidaymakers from Europe.

The statistics said that 972,839 people had visited the Maldives by the end of August 2018.

The millionth visitor of this year arrived on September 9 and was named as Koralp Guner by tourism authorities. The millionth tourist of 2017 arrived on October 1.

There were a record 1.39 million tourist arrivals in 2017 but the government has been aiming for 1.5 million, despite missing this target in previous years.

It wants the expansion and upgrade of the country’s main international airport to boost visitor numbers.

Earlier this month the head of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relation Corporation said 7.5 million passengers would visit the country after the opening of the new runway.

Photo shows the millionth tourist of 2018