Maldives Tourist Arrivals Stay 3.9% Behind Last Year in First Half of October

The Maldives received 79,529 tourists in the first 14 days of October, 3.9% fewer than the 82,770 recorded over the same period last year, according to the Tourism Ministry’s weekly update published on 15 October.

The Maldives Tourism Updates bulletin, Issue 39, puts total visitor arrivals for 2026 at 1,682,550 as of 14 October, down 3.4% from 1,741,801 at the same point in 2025.

The ministry counts tourists, business arrivals and cruise passengers separately. Tourist arrivals alone totalled 1,651,506 for the year to 14 October, compared with 1,719,259 a year earlier, a fall of 3.9%. Business arrivals and cruise passengers are updated at the end of each month.

Month by Month

The year began ahead of 2025, with total arrivals up 5.0% in January and 17.7% in February. They then fell 19.8% in March and 24.4% in April. The bulletin does not give reasons for the changes.

The average daily figure for the year so far is 5,863 visitors, against 6,069 at the same point in 2025.

Source Markets

China remains the largest market, with 317,524 tourists, or 19.2% of arrivals. It is followed by Russia with 239,816 (14.5%), the United Kingdom with 125,051 (7.6%), Germany with 107,870 (6.5%), Italy with 101,031 (6.1%) and India with 95,449 (5.8%).

Most tourists from each of the six largest markets stayed in resorts. The share was highest for British tourists, at 88.0%. Chinese and Italian visitors were the most likely to choose guesthouses, at 27.2% and 26.8% respectively.

Seats and Beds

The arrival seat load factor, the share of seats filled on incoming flights, was 74.40% as of 10 October. The bulletin shows this as a change of +5.2% on a year earlier.

The ministry recorded 68,091 beds available for visitors, of which 45,171 were in resorts.

Last year the Maldives received 2,275,088 visitors in total, including 2,246,516 tourists. That was up from 2,074,442 visitors in 2024.