Maldives tourist arrivals increase by 21.8 percent

Tourist arrivals in October 2010 increased by 21.8 percent compared to that of last year, according to figures disclosed by Tourism Ministry.

A ministry statement said 74,707 tourists visited the Maldives in October 2010 while 62,432 visited in October 2009.

According to the statistics, Europe still dominates the Maldives tourism market with 407,519 visiting the country from January-October, which accounts for 63.3 percent of the total arrival – a 9.2 percent increase to the European tourist arrivals within the period of last year.

Asia-Pacific follows Europe on the second with 207,736 tourists visiting the Maldives within the 10 months – a 57.5 percent increase to 2009’s amount.

China contributes the highest to the tourist arrivals by October 2010 with 104,148 tourists, which is a 109.7 percent increase to the period of last year. From January-October 2010, 95,586 British tourists visited the Maldives.

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