The total number of tourist arrivals this year has reached 80,000.

According to statistics released by the Tourism Ministry, the total number of tourist arrivals in the first 16 days of the year has reached 81,772. The number for the same period last year was 67,158. This marks an increase of 21.8 percent in comparison to the previous year.

This year's highest number of tourist arrivals is from Russia with 13,849 tourist arrivals. They currently hold 16.9 percent of the market. While Italy remains the second top source market, India which finished last year on top of the list currently remains at number three.

Statistics also show that on average 5,111 tourist arrivals are recorded daily, who spend an average of eight days in the country.

The government aims to reach 1.8 million tourist arrivals this year.