Total arrivals to the Maldives reached a total of 1,101,113 at the end November 2014, resulting in a solid growth of 7.9% compared with the same period of 2013. During the past 11 months of 2014, strong positive growths were registered through January to July. In terms of absolute numbers, in January, February, March, April, July, August and October, over a hundred thousand arrivals visited the Maldives each month. In terms of growth rate peak month was January with 18.5%. While April, May and July recorded double digit growth rates, September and October recorded marginal growth rates of 3.1% and 2.8% respectively. November was a negative month recording a 5.1% decline in arrivals.

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC remained as the leading market generator to the Maldives at the end of November 2014. A small drop in market share, however, was recorded for the region from 49.9% at the end of October to 49.6% by the end of November. While the overall growth of the region at the end of November 2014 was a positive 13.6%, the month of November saw a decline (-4.6%) in arrivals from Asia and the Pacific Region. With the added 41,587 tourists in November, the total arrivals from this region for the period from January to November 2014 was 546,278.

 

In terms of sub regions from Asia and the Pacific, North East Asia and South Asia, the two largest market generating regions within Asia & the Pacific to the Maldives, both recorded negative growths of 6.6% and 6.2% respectively during the month of November 2014. North East Asia grabbed the largest market share (38%) as the leading sub region at the end of November 2014. With a total of 418,064 tourists at the end of the period, the region saw a positive growth of 10.5% for the period. South Asia region accounted for 5.3% of all arrivals during the period. The Maldives received a total of 58,867 tourists from this sub region registering a positive growth of 18.8% at the end of the period. Growth was positive for South East Asia (12.2%) and Oceania (8.5%) during the month of November 2014. While South East Asia grasped 4.6% share of all arrivals to the Maldives during the period January to November 2014, with a total of 50,210 tourists leading to a robust 41.3% growth, Oceania accounted for 1.7% of all arrivals at the end of the period.

 

Looking at individual markets within Asia & the Pacific region, although the Chinese market remains as the leading market, the market has been posting negative growths since September 2014. The pace at which this market has been growing has slowed down considerably due to the negative growths registered during the month of February (-1.1%), September (-1.7%), October (-3.5%) and November (-4.9%), affecting the growth of the whole region. At the end of November 2014, the Chinese market share stood at 31.4% with a total of 345,395 tourists. Second largest market within Asia and the Pacific was India grasping 3.6% shares at the end of November 2014. The Indian market also registered a strong decline (-13.1%) during the month of November 2014. However, the overall growth of the market at the end of the period remained positive at a healthy 20.5% as a result of strong performances during the course of the year. Japan, the third largest market within Asia and the Pacific posted a negative growth (-0.2%) at the end of the period from January to November 2014. The Maldives received a total of 34,560 tourists from this market during the period through January to November capturing a market share of 3.1%. Korea secured its position at the fourth place within the region taking hold of 2.8% shares during the period. Korean market registered a heavy decline of -24.1% during the month of November 2014, however the total growth remained positive at 16.6% at the end of the period. Australia is considered as a potential market within this region, staying firmly at the fifth position within the region capturing a market share of 1.6% at the end of the period with a strong positive growth of 12.3% for the period.

 

EUROPE is the second largest market generating region to the Maldives. During the past 11 months of 2014, the European region saw 5 months of negative growths, 2 months of borderline growths and 4 months of positive growths, resulting in a marginal growth of 0.8% at the end of period from January to November 2014. The Maldives received a total of 477,123 tourists from Europe at the end of November 2014, accounting for 43.3% of total arrivals during the period.

 

By sub regions within Europe, positive results were seen from Northern Europe and Southern Europe during the month of November. Central/Eastern Europe, Western Europe and East Mediterranean Europe all posted negative growth during the month. Western Europe was the leading sub region within Europe at the end of November 2014 grabbing a total share of 17.6%. Although growth was negative during the month of November from this sub region, with a total of 193,306 tourists a positive 0.6% was recorded from this sub region for the period from January to November 2014. Central/Eastern Europe, the second largest sub region within Europe, saw a heavy decline of 22% during the month of November 2014, resulting in a negative 6.4% growth for the period. This sub region captured a market share of 9.1% at the end of the period with a total of 99,722 tourists. Followed closely behind was the Northern Europe with a market share of 9% at the end of November 2014. With a positive growth registered during the month of November 2014, this sub region posted a solid 5.8% growth at the end of the period. Southern Europe, the fourth largest sub region within Europe, posted the best results during the month of November 2014 with a positive 3.5% growth. The market share of Southern Europe stood at 6.7% with a total arrival of 73,718 at the end of November 2014. East Mediterranean Europe recorded a decline of 5.6% during the month of November 2014, leading to a negative 1.6% growth at the end of the period from January to November 2014.

 

Top five markets within Europe at the end of November 2014 were Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy and France. The German market has performed well during the last 11 months of 2014 resulting in a positive growth of 5.2% at the end of November. With the added 9,483 tourists in November, arrivals from this market reached a total of 90,404, taking hold of 8.2% shares at the end of the period. The United Kingdom, second largest market within Europe, posted a negative growth during the month of November 2014. However, at the end of the period from January to November, results remained positive with a firm 3.1% growth. Market share of U.K stayed at 7.4% at the end of the period. Third largest market within Europe was Russia with 5.6% shares at the end of November 2014. The Russian market has been posting gloomy results posting negative growths during 2014 with the month of November as the weakest month registering a strong decline of 31.3%, ending the period from January to November with a negative 9.6% growth rate. Italy as the fourth largest market within Europe grasped a market share of 4.5% at the end of November 2014. The Italian market saw a negative growth of 2.8% during the month of November 2014. With a total arrivals of 49,476 tourists, the Italian market ended in a negative growth of 0.7% for the period from January to November 2014. France followed closely behind Italy with a market share of 4.1% at the end of November 2014. The French market performed with a huge decline during the month of November with a negative 24.1% growth rate, which lead to a negative 6.3% growth for the period from January to November 2014. Impressive results in terms of growth rate were seen from Spain (+37.7%), Finland (+29.8%), Hungary (+28%), Sweden (+26.9%), the Netherlands (+23.4%), Romania (+23.1%) and Denmark (+22.4%).

 

AMERICAS posted the best results in terms of arrival growth. With a 5% increase during the month of November, the region registered a robust 24.3% increase during the period from January through November 2014. With this huge increment in arrivals, the market share also increased from 3.2% at the end of October 2014 to 3.3% by the end of November 2014. The region captured a market share of 3.3% at the end of the period. All the major markets from this region posted double digit growths during the period with the U.S.A as the leading market taking hold of 2% shares at the end of the period. MIDDLE EAST was the second best performing region in terms of market growth at the end of November 2014. Taking hold of 3.1% share of all arrivals during the period, the region saw an increase of 14.8% for the period from January to November 2014. Arrivals from AFRICA saw a decline (-1.3%) at the end of the period in review. The market share, however, remained steady at 0.7% at the end of the period.

 

Registered number of resorts remained at 112 with a total bed capacity of 23,921, at the end of November 2014. Hotels increased to 19 with a bed capacity of 1,655 and the number of Guest Houses increased to 212 with 2,972. The number of registered Safari Vessels increased to 163 with 2,767 beds. Out of these 506 registered establishments, on average 294 establishments with a combined bed capacity of 26,886 were operational at the end of November 2014. These include, 22,915 beds in 104 resorts, 1,430 beds in 16 hotels, 1,487 beds in 109 guest houses and 1,054 beds in 65 safari vessels. The total bed nights of these 294 establishments was 6,692,578 for the period in review. This was an increase of 4.2% compared with the same period of 2013. While the occupancy rate of these establishments saw an increase of 0.8% with 74.6% at the end of the period, the average duration of stay was at 6.1 days, which was 0.2 days less than that of the same period in 2013.