MALDIVES inbound numbers suffered a 4.7-per cent year-on-year drop in February as the destination struggled to keep its political crisis under control.
Last month, arrivals fell to 83,252, compared to 87,392 the previous February, when arrivals had grown by 13.4 per cent against the same period in 2010.
Arrivals from China, the Maldives’ top source market, were the worst affected –hit by a 34.8 per cent decline to 12,237 visitors.
Second-placed UK dropped to third with a 6.8 per cent dip to 9,006.
There were positive signs, however, as France leapt above the UK, gaining 4.9 per cent to 9,742 arrivals, and Germany rose by 25 per cent to 8,591.
Maldives travel consultants handling the Chinese market attributed the big drop in arrivals to charters flights being suspended when the crisis broke out. These charter services are expected to resume by April.
