President Dr.Muizzu has urged to make China as Maldives number one tourist market once again.

He said this while he was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Invest Maldives Forum in China today. 

President Dr. Muizzu said that China was the number one market in Maldives tourism before the COVID-19  outbreak.

In his speech, he said the government has decided to further develop the tourism sector in Maldives. These include the establishment of a school for the highest level of training in  hospitality and the expansion of sports, medical and cultural tourism.

The number of tourists from China declined after the country closed its border in 2020 due to the COVID-19  pandemic. After almost a three-year hiatus, tourists from the country started coming to Maldives last year. Last year, 187,118 tourists visited from China. This is 10 percent of the total tourist arrivals of 2023 to Maldives.

The country with the highest number of tourists visits to Maldives  last year was India.