Maldives tourist arrivals up 10 percent

Tourist arrivals for the first six months of 2018 increased by 10.5 percent compared to the same period last year, the tourism ministry said Wednesday.

A total of 726,515 tourists had visited the Maldives up to June 2018. In 2017 the figure was 657,542.

The increase is despite a state of emergency and travel warnings triggered by an ongoing political crisis.

A total of 93,786 tourists visited in June 2018, up from 85,222 in 2017.

Europe held the largest market share for the first two quarters of 2018, with 51.3 percent of all visitors coming from the region.

Photo: @TourismMV