Indian and Russian tourists account for over 42% of the total tourist market share in the Maldives.
Indian tourists dominated the tourism market for the majority of this year until the government of Maldives banned tourists from South Asian countries to limit the spread of COVID19.
This temporary ban which lasted from 13th May to 15th July resulted in Russia gaining the top position with the biggest market share for 2021.
The lift on the travel ban saw a significant increase in tourist arrivals with August becoming the busiest month of the year. India soon regained back the top position for over all tourist arrivals surpassing Russia.
Arrivals in August 2021 surpassed that of 2019 with 143,599 tourist arrivals which is a +3.1% growth comparing to 2019.
Tourist arrivals has since remained strong with the present tourist arrival rate for September being 10% higher than that of 2019.