Chinese arrivals in Maldives rose to third spot in 2023, shows data

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu’s request to China on Tuesday to “intensify” efforts to send more tourists to its shores comes at a time when the country is already figuring among the top five — led by India — that contribute to footfall in the island nation.

The statement, made during Mui­zzu’s first visit to China after taking over as president, comes days after three junior ministers in the Mal­dives made offensive remarks against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 

While the three ministers have been suspended, there has been no statement of apology from the Mal­divian government, which has led to a strong backlash in India with many pushing for a ban on travelling to the archipelago in the Indian Ocean. However, data for the first nine days of January shows that tourist arrivals from India to the Maldives has been at similar levels as last year during the same period.
 

At the same time, more Chinese tourists are flocking to the Maldives than before. According to data from the country’s ministry of tourism, in calendar year (CY) 2022, China was ranked 27th in the list of nations sending tourists to the Maldives. India, with a 14.4 per cent share of total arrivals, was at the top, followed by Russia (12.1 per cent) and the UK (10.7 per cent).
 

In CY 2023, Chinese footfall jump­ed to the third spot. They are very close to the numbers from India and Russia and may soon soar to the number 1 spot. With 187,118 tourists visiting the Mal­dives, China had a 10 per cent share in the country’s visitor pie last year and closed in on India, which sent 203,198 tourists (11.1 per cent). Russia, which was in the second spot, was be­hind India by only 52 tourists last year.
 

While the arrivals from India have fallen by around 13 per cent in CY 23 compared to CY 22, data from the ministry of tourism in Maldives shows that Chinese tourist numbers had grown by over 13 to 14 times in the same period.
 

This is because Chinese arrivals red­uced to a trickle (12,000-odd from Jan­uary to November) in CY 22 due to stringent pandemic restrictions on travels abroad. After the curbs were lift­ed, there has been a big spike in the in­flux of tourists from China to the Maldives.
 

Despite the backlash over the comments on PM Modi, the number of Ind­ian visitors to the Maldives in the first nine days of January is at 3,791, accounting for 7.4 per cent of the tourist inflows in 2024. That is more or less in line with the numbers during the same period last year, when 3,356 arrivals from India accounted for a share of 7.4 per cent.
 

In January, the bulk of the tourists to the Maldives come from Europe. Hence, Russia, Italy and the UK collectively account for 26 per cent of arrivals in the first nine days of the year.
 

Says Anil Kalsi, secretary and vice-president, Travel Agents Fed­era­tion of India, “Passengers who have booked and paid for holidays tend to lose most of their money if they cancel at a short notice. Consi­dering the grou­nd situation isn’t worrisome, pre-book­ed passengers are going ahead with their plans. But future bookings are seeing a downward trend as nat­ion­al sentiments become a deciding factor.”
 

Kalsi says that many Indian tourists are giving the Maldives a miss and are exploring alternative destinations such as Thailand, Bali, Malaysia, Vietnam, Almaty, Baku and even Tbilisi.