In what seems like a good revival story for the tourism industry in the Maldives, the country is near to achieving its tourist arrival target for 2o20- a year that disrupted the tourism industry like never before. 

Tourism Minister Abdullah Masoom informed that the Maldives is expected to reach its annual arrival target of 500,000 by December 25. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit the tourism industry around the world, the government in the Maldives revised the arrival target to 500,000 for 2020. 

He also hailed the growth in arrival from some markets. “#Maldives tourism is bouncing back! Nov arrival from some markets broke the 2019 records,” tweeted Masoom. 

The country registered a 40 percent growth from Egypt, 24.5 percent from Kazakhstan, and 5 percent from Russia when compared with November 2019, the minister informed in the tweet.

In 2019, the Maldives received around 1.9 million total visitors to the country. 

The revival of the tourism industry is a major relief for the country as its economy suffered an unprecedented blow when the world went into a global lockdown in March-end this year. The World Bank said the country’s economy plunged around 50 percent.  

The country reopened its border on 15 July and opened its islands for tourists in a phased manner. The government also introduced several schemes to incentivize the tourism industry.