Amid deteriorating bilateral relations between New Delhi and Male, the number of Indian tourists to Maldives has dropped by 33 per cent, Male-based Adhadhu reported citing data from the tourism ministry. By March 4 last year, 41,054 Indian tourists visited the Maldives but this number came down to 27,224 by March 2 this year - a drop of 13,830 tourists.
The decline is the result of a campaign asking Indian tourists to visit the country's Lakshadweep islands instead of the Maldives. This was done after three former deputy ministers made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Till March last year, India was the second largest source market for tourists to the Maldives with a 10 per cent market share, the report said. However, India is now in sixth place on the list with a six per cent market share. While the number of Indian tourists has dropped, the number of Chinese tourists has surged in recent months.
India was the top tourist market for the Maldives in 2021, 2022, and 2023 with more than 200,000 tourists each year. However, China is now the top market with more than 54,000 tourist arrivals so far this year. A total of 217,394 tourists arrived in the Maldives during February. Of these, tourist arrivals from China were 34,646 by February 27.
This was a 10.7 per cent increase compared to 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic when 31,285 Chinese tourists visited in February 2019. The record increase in Chinese tourists comes as several Chinese airlines launched flights to the Maldives, including Xiamen and Sichuan Airlines, one of the most successful airlines in China, the report said.
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, during his visit to China, appealed to Chinese tourists to visit the island nation. His visit to China came just after a week the derogatory comments against PM Modi were made and 'Boycott Maldives' had started doing the rounds on social media.
"China was our number one market pre-COVID, and it is my request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position," Muizzu said.