Destination Name

The Republic of Maldives

Promotion video links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAY9aWSEQLc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5ZLj3_3VXI

Destination map

It’s an island country located in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean

Fig 1.0 Maldives Map (World Atlas, 2020)

Destination photos

Figure 2.0. Pictures of Maldives

 

Introduction and facts

The Maldives is a small island country in South Asia. It is southwest of Sri Lanka and India. The total area of Maldives is roughly 300 square kilometers. The capital is Male.

Population

According to a population estimate, Maldives now has 379,270 inhabitants on the island (Statistics Maldives, 2020).

GDP

According to official government statistics, the 2019 total GDP of Maldives was $8.8 Billion with per capita of $23,155 (World Bank, 2020). This is a significant increase as compared to previous years.

Culture

The culture of Maldives is influenced by people from different areas of the world who have settled in the area. Most of the culture is influenced by Islam and the Quran. Trade used to happen between the far east and the middle east which is why Muslims settled here first.

Special Characteristics

One of the most special characters of Maldives is the fact that it is made of islands. There are islands spread from the north to south end of the country. These islands are surrounded by shallow water from the Indian Ocean. The water around these islands is the clearest water we can ever see. Clean air, blue ocean, and white beaches are the unique and special characteristics of Maldives.

 

Tourism stats

Tourism contributes 28% to the GDP of Maldives. The economy of Maldives is not dependent on fisheries anymore, instead, it is shifting towards tourism. As of 2019, there are 17,000 beds available in the Maldives at different resorts which accommodate 600,000 tourists yearly. Tourism in the Maldives has been on the rise as can be seen in the graph below. In 2019, a total of 1.7 million new visitors came to Island.

 

Graph 1.0. Tourism in Maldives (Workbank, 2020)

 

Domestic and international tourists

According to the latest report published by Maldives Tourism Ministry, the local residents do not travel within the Maldives due to higher resort prices and fewer vacancies. Mostly, there are international tourists coming to the Maldives from different regions mentioned in the table below.

Table 1.0 International Tourism Arrival (Ministry of Tourism Maldives, 2019)

From these continents, the numbers are further broken down by the Maldives Tourism Ministry. Tourists from China, Germany, and the United Kingdom make up 40% of the total tourist arrival in the Maldives. USA and Australia have the lowest number of tourists arriving in the Maldives.

Table 2.0. Market share of Top Ten Tourist Arrivals (Ministry of Tourism Maldives, 2019)

 

References

Maldives Tourism Ministry (2020) Statistics. Retrieved from  https://www.tourism.gov.mv/statistics/publications/year-2019

Statistics Maldives (2020) Population and Ethnicity of Maldivians. Retrieved from  http://statisticsmaldives.gov.mv/nbs/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Maldives-Population-Projections-2014-2054.pdf

World Atlas (2020) Maps of Maldives. Retrieved from  https://www.worldatlas.com/maps/maldives

World Bank (2020) GDP per capita (current US$) – Maldives. Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=MV

World Bank (2020) Maldives International tourism, number of arrivals. Retrieved from  https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.ARVL