The Maldives has seen 101,191 inboundtourists this July, a respectable 13.9 percent boost year-on-year (YoY), while also recording a sustained 11.8 percent growth YoY for the first 7 months of this year with 701,704 tourists driven by Chinese arrivals into the archipelago.
A massive 43,269 or 43.2 percent of arrivals in the Maldives for July were from China, an 18.4 percent YoY increase from 36,551.
Trailing China were the UK claiming 6.6 percent of the arrivals with 6,567, and Germany another 5.4 percent with 5,371, however, both European countries recorded declines YoY, with UK arrivals receding by 5.4 percent and Germany by 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, in the first seven months, 257,843 Chinese arrivals were observed, a 30.6 percent share of the market at an increase of 19.8 percent YoY, showing the growth of Chinese tourists throughout the year.
German arrivals captured a 7.7 percent market segment, increasing 2.5 percent to 53,975, while British arrivals brought up the third place with a 7.4 per cent of the market, a 3.4 per cent growth YoY to 51,822.
In comparison, Chinese arrivals in Sri Lanka this July, despite being record breaking, was only about one third that of arrivals in the Maldives, with 15,178. However, this represented a massive 172.2 per cent increase YoY, while also ticking in 67,408 arrivals for the first 7 months with a 144.2 per cent growth.
While the British and German arrivals in Sri Lanka, both in absolute numbers and growth were significantly higher, they did not round up the top 3, with the Indian and French arrivals claiming the last 2 spots respectively.
John Keells Hotels PLC and Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings, Sri Lankan hoteliering giants that own and manage several hotels and resorts in the Maldives have been raking in the profits in light of the heightened numbers. The leisure operations of John Keells for the 3 months ended June 30 recorded a pre-tax profit of Rs.204.6 million, a 53.9 percent rise YoY, while Aitken Spence (including 2 hotels in India) for the same period recorded a pre-tax profit of Rs. 472.6 million, a 25. 8 percent growth YoY.
Sri Lanka Travel Feneteko