THE Chinese embassy in the Maldives has launched a visa service last month, enabling Maldivian travellers to obtain Chinese visas directly from the capital of Male.
All visas to China were previously issued from the Chinese embassy in Colombo, forcing all local and foreign passport holders alike in the Maldives to fly to Sri Lanka for applications.
The development is a boost to the Maldivian travel trade who regularly makes business visits to China, currently the Maldives’ largest inbound market.
Chinese visitors to the Maldives numbered 230,000 in 2012 and 284,951 between January and October 2013, contributing over 30 per cent of arrivals to the country.
