China has climbed to the fourth spot in the list of countries with the highest number of tourist arrivals to the Maldives.

China has been at the bottom of this year's top 10 market list for a long time, despite opening its borders and starting official travel to the Maldives in January.

Tourist arrivals from China, which was the largest market in the Maldives before Covid, have been growing rapidly with campaigns by the government and MMPRC to increase the number of tourists arriving in the country. It was ninth on the list at the end of January, but by June, it had finished sixth on the list.

According to the 'Tourist Arrival Weekly Updates' shared by Tourism Minister Abdulla Mausoom on Twitter yesterday, 67,822 tourists have visited the Maldives since China opened up for travel. It accounts for 7.1 percent of the market. With this number, China has overtaken Germany and Italy to finish fourth in the top market list this year.

China is one of the most important markets for the Maldives. MMPRC and Singapore Airlines traveled to China last month to promote the Maldives as a safe and attractive destination for Chinese travelers.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, a total of 952,608 tourists have visited the Maldives so far this year. Most of the tourists came from India and Russia.

More than 100,000 tourists have arrived from both countries, with the UK accounting for the third-highest number of arrivals.

A total of 81,707 tourists have arrived in the Maldives so far from the UK.