The Maldives welcomed the one-millionth visitor to its shores for 2023 in July – one month earlier than last year as the idyllic Indian Ocean island destination continues its travel recovery trajectory with Aussie travellers back in the top-10 source markets.
Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s goal of 1.8 million international tourists in 2023 is on track with more than 18,000 Australian arrivals in June comparing favourably with 20,000 from Australia in June 2019.
The resurgence in Australian tourist arrivals in the Maldives is particularly noteworthy as it indicates a strong recovery from global pandemic effects.
Visitor numbers are nearing pre-pandemic levels, showing resilience in the Australian outbound tourism market.
The results are also undoubtedly bolstered by luxury product and highly competitive holiday packages for the island nation from the likes of Flight Centre and Luxury Escapes, as seen regularly in our weekly travel deal wraps.
Karryon also recently shared that new Maldivian airline Beond will link Australia and Maldives directly for the first time.
Beond has included Perth in its route network with plans to start flights to Australia in under 12 months, creating even more accessibility for Aussie travellers to the popular destination.
The return to the top-10 ranking also signifies Australia’s contribution to the Maldivian tourism industry is back on track as it reclaimed its spot.
As of mid-July 2023, the top markets to the Maldives were Russia, India, the UK, China and Germany, with most nations surpassing pre-pandemic arrival numbers.
For more info, head to visitmaldives.com