India has once again become the leading tourist market for the Maldives, surpassing Russia, which had previously occupied the top spot.
According to the latest statistics released by the Tourism Ministry, the Maldives has welcomed 205,278 visitors from India this year, accounting for 11.2 percent of the total tourist arrivals. This surge has relegated Russia, the prior leader in tourist arrivals to the Maldives, to second place. Russian tourist arrivals currently stand at 203,539, comprising 11.1 percent of the total.
This year marks the second instance where India has topped the list of tourist markets for the Maldives. The first occurrence was in April when India led with 17,577 arrivals, compared to Russia’s 16,979.
The previous administration had set a target of 1.9 million tourist arrivals for the year. With only a few days left, the Maldives has so far recorded a total of 1,834,759 tourist arrivals.