Tourist arrivals recorded a hefty growth during the month of July 2014. With a total of 100,191 tourists, growth rate was at 13.9% in July 2014 compared with the same month in 2013. With this additional hundred thousand arrivals in July, arrivals reached a total of 701,704 registering a strong growth (11.8%) for the period from January to July 2014 compared with the same period of 2013. In terms of absolute numbers, outstanding results were observed throughout the past seven months of the year with the Maldives welcoming on average over hundred thousand tourists per month. Growth rate remained positive and above average. Strongest performance, in terms of growth was seen during the month of January 2014 (18.5%). Peak month in terms of arrival numbers was February with 110,705 tourists, however, growth rate was weakest (5.7%) during this month.

Asia and the Pacific with its phenomenal performance over the last seven months, took lead for the first time as the main market generating region overtaking Europe, the all-time market leader for the Maldives. During the month of July, Asia and the Pacific took hold of over 61% all arrivals to the Maldives. With the added 61,280 tourists in July, the total arrivals from the region reached 340,901 at the end of the period, registering a healthy 21.9% growth for the period from January to July 2014, compared with the same period of 2013. By sub regions within Asia and the Pacific, North East Asia led, which accounted for 75% of arrivals from the region and 37% of all arrivals during the period. North East Asia registered a healthy 19.4% growth during the period in review. South Asia was the second best performing sub-region within Asia and the Pacific, taking hold of 5.3% shares with 37,211 tourists for the period from January to July 2014. Growth was positive with 16.5% for the period from South Asia. Strongest growth was seen from South East Asia (59.5%), which injected 33,520 tourists during the period January to July 2014. Market share from this rub-region stood at 4.8% at the end of the period in review. Oceania saw a healthy 20% growth during the month of July. With the additional 2,150 tourists during the month, arrivals reached a total of 12,327 at the end of July 2014, registering a positive growth of 15% for the period. Market share saw a slight increment from 1.7% to 1.8% at the end of the period.

 

Main markets from the Asia Pacific region, at the end of period from January to July were China (30.6%), India (3.6%), Japan (2.9%), Korea (2.7%), and Australia (1.6%). With its extraordinary performance, the growth of the whole region was backed by the increase in Chinese (30.6%) arrivals. Maldives welcomed a total of 214,518 tourists from China during the period from January to July 2014, this was an increase of 19.8% compared with that of the same period in 2013. India was the second best performing market from the region taking hold of 3.6% shares at the end of July 2014. The market saw an increase of 38% during the month of July 2014 and 16.7% for the period from January to July. The Japanese market ascended to the third position within the region with a market share of 2.9% at the end of the period in review. With a positive growth of 5.3%, the Maldives received a total of 20,078 tourists from Japan during the period from January to July 2014. Korea saw a heavy growth of 35.9% at the end of the period and was the fourth largest market within the region. The Australian market performed well with a robust 23% growth in July 2014. With a total of 11,195 tourists at the end of July 2014, an increase of 1.8% was seen from the market for the period from January to July 2014.

 

Europe, the leading market generator to the Maldives since tourism began, lost its position to the emerging Asia Pacific region and stepped down to the second place by the end of July 2014. European market share has declined considerably over the last seven months from a healthy 50% in January to 33% in July. With the additional 33,229 tourists in July 2014, arrivals from Europe reached a total of 313,115 at the end of the period from January to July 2014, registering an increase of 1.4% for the period. By sub-regions, Western Europe was the leading sub-region within Europe, accounting for 40% of arrivals from Europe and 17.9% of all arrivals to the country, at the end of July 2014. The region however, saw a decline (-0.2%) at the end of the period. Central Eastern Europe with a market share of 9.7%, was the second largest sub-region within Europe. The region also performed with a negative growth (-4%) during the period from January to July 2014.  Next best performer within the region was Northern Europe with 9.1% shares. Arrivals from this sub-region increase by 6.3% during the period. Strongest growth for the period was recorded from Southern Europe with 7.4%. Market share from this region stood at 6.9% at the end of the period. East Mediterranean Europe injected 1% to the total arrivals to the country during the period from January to July. The region registered a positive growth of 5.2% for the period.

 

 

In terms of individual markets from Europe, highest ranked include Germany (7.7%), the United Kingdom (7.4%), Russia (6.0%), Italy (5.1%) and France (4.7%). While the German market led the region with 7.7% shares, the market saw an increase of 2.5% for the period from January to July. A total of 53,975 tourist visited the Maldives from this market during the period. The United Kingdom followed closely behind taking hold of 7.4% share of arrivals at the end of the period. With the added 6,567 tourists in July, total arrivals from the market reached a total of 51,822 at the end of the period, registering a positive growth of 3.4%. Russia was the third largest market from the region. Although the Russian market saw a slight increase during the month of July, the overall growth of the market remained negative with -5.5%, due to the poor performance during the first five months of the year. The Italian market has improved during the last three months leading to a positive 2.3% growth at the end of first seven months of the year. The Maldives welcomed a total of 35,663 tourists from Italy contributing 5.1% as market shares at the end of July 2014. French market contributed 4.7% to the market shares and remained as the fifth largest market within the region. However, the market saw has been unstable throughout the year registering negative growths during the months of January, March, April May and July, leading to a negative growth of 3.4% at the end of the period from January to July 2014.

 

Americas remained as the third leading market region with 3.3% shares at the end of July 2014. With a total of 23,006 tourists, the region registered a robust growth of 27.3% at the end of the period. U.S remained as the market leader taking hold of over than 61% of arrivals from the region and 2% of all arrivals to the country for the period from January to July 2014. With double digit growth from all major markets of the region, the Middle East market share stood at 2.9% at the end of July 2014. The region registered a healthy growth of 20.7% for the period. Arrivals from Africa nearly doubled in July 2014 compared to that of 2013. However, the region posted a negative growth of 1.5% for the period from January to July 2014, due to the heavy declines recorded during the last six months of the year. The market share of this region, remained at 0.6% at the end of the period.

 

At the end of July 2014, the total number of registered tourist establishments reached 474 with 30,732 beds, out of which on average 291 establishments with a total of 26,894 beds were operational during the period in review. These include 105 tourist resorts (22,944 beds), 17 hotels (1,473 beds), 111 guest houses (1,510 beds) and 59 safari vessels (968 beds). The total bed nights of these establishments saw an increase of 6.7% at the end of the period reaching a total of 4,304,953 nights. While the occupancy rate recorded an increase of 2.3% to attain an average of 75.6% for the period, average duration of stay of the tourists saw a decline of 0.3%. The average duration of stay for the period was 6.1 days.