Maldives reports 11.2% increase in UK visitors

The exotic holiday destination of the Maldives has reported an 11.2% increase in the number of UK visitors in the first six months of 2018, compared with the same period in 2017.

In total, 57,535 UK tourists arrived in the Maldives from January – June 2018, compared with 51,737 in 2017.

June itself saw a 6.2% growth in the number of UK tourist arrivals, when compared with the same month in 2017. Overall, 6,459 travellers from the UK visited the Maldives in June 2018, compared with 6,081 in June 2017, accounting for 6.9% of all tourist arrivals to the Maldives and therefore representing the third largest inbound market for arrivals globally, after China (17.5%) and Germany (8%), respectively.

In terms of total worldwide arrivals, 93,786 travellers visited the Maldives in June 2018, a 10% increase on June 2017. The first six months of 2018 have seen 726,515 global tourists visit the Maldives, an increase of 10.5% when compared to the same period last year.

New resorts

This year the Maldives will further confirm its status as one of the most attractive holiday destinations for UK tourists, with the opening of at least 23 new resorts. The island nation was also recently crowned as the ‘Indian Ocean’s Best Spa Destination’ at the World Spa Awards and as the ‘Best Honeymoon Destination’ at the Luxury Lifestyle Magazine Readers’ Travel Awards.

Maldives’ Minister of Tourism, Hon. Moosa Zameer, said: “We are once again very pleased to see a notable increase in the number of UK and worldwide arrivals to the Maldives.

“The increase is testament to the country’s world-class tourism industry and with several exciting developments planned for the remaining months of 2018 and into 2019, including the opening of a number of resorts, we look forward to welcoming even more UK tourists to our shores.”

For more information on the Maldives, visit www.visitmaldives.com