During a grand event held today at Velana International Airport, Maldives welcomed the 100,000th tourist since border reopening after a brief closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On arrival, she was escorted outside by officials of MMPRC and Maldives Immigration, and greeted by the Deputy Minister of Ministry of Tourism, Managing Director of MMPRC, Controller General of Immigration and CEO and Managing Director of MACL. The Controller General of Immigration, Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Hussain, also handed over a special gift to her.

Due to the ongoing global pandemic, Maldives had to close its borders on 27th March 2020. After almost four months of border closure, the tourism industry reopened on 15th July, with enhanced precautionary measures against COVID-19. A safe tourism guideline was issued by the Ministry of Tourism. Resorts and liveaboards resumed operations on this date, whereas guesthouses resumed operations on 15th October. As of 14th December, guesthouses and hotels in the greater Male’ region are also scheduled to reopen.

Since the reopening, there has been a gradual increase in tourist arrivals with the establishment of travel bubbles between Maldives and other countries, as well as a greater connectivity in terms of flight operations. Over 18 airlines are currently traveling to and from Maldives, from all around the globe.

On 6th December, Maldives broke the record of daily arrivals since the reopening which was a total of 3,006 tourists, whereas the air traffic movement on this date was 352.