Maldives mulls tourism future as China reaches quarter of all arrivals
21 Nov 2012, 1:26 PM
Neil Merrett
China has accounted for just under a quarter of all visitors coming to the Maldives for the first nine months of 2012, contributing substantially to a 3.4 percent increase in arrivals compared to last year despite declines in established European markets.
The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has said the figures indicated that the country remained on track to meet its aim of welcoming a million visitors in 2012.
Tourism authorities also said that despite the growing importance of China to visitor numbers, European markets remained the main overall contributor to the Maldives tourism sector. As the country looks to commemorate 40 years since the introduction of the travel industry, officials have said that even declining custom from markets like the UK has begun showing positive trends in terms of demand for more lucrative high-end holidays.
According to the statistics, between January and September 2012, there were 691,608 tourist arrivals in the Maldives. During September 2012, 76,806 visitors travelled to the Maldives – an increase of 6.9 percent over the same time last year.
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