Maldives welcomes millionth tourist of 2018

The Maldives on Sunday welcomed the millionth tourist of 2018 with a free resort holiday, seaplane travel and Internet package.

The man, who was not named by officials or the media, arrived with his wife for their honeymoon at Meeru Island Resort. They were greeted and welcomed with cultural activities at the country’s main international airport. He is from Turkey and his wife is from the US, according to media reports.

The man was awarded a holiday at a Movenpick resort, a Trans-Maldivian Airways ticket and a 100 GB data package from Dhiraagu.

Deputy Tourism Minister Hussain Lirar and Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Cooperation managing director Haris Mohamed attended the event.

The man told reporters at the airport he was surprised by the welcome.

“Today we saw these very cheerful faces when we came to the Maldives. We are very happy to be awarded such an honour,” the unnamed man was quoted as saying by Mihaaru.

The Tourism Ministry has been marking the arrival of the millionth tourist since 2015. The millionth tourist of 2017 arrived in October that year.

According to official figures, 848,847 tourists visited by July 2018, a 10.1 percent increase from the 770,715 tourists that visited during the same period in 2017.

Photo: Mihaaru