Ameen says Maldives may reach last year’s tourist total by December

Tourism Minister Mohamed Ameen says Maldives is now on track to reach the same number of tourist arrivals as last year by the end of 2026, despite a sharp decline earlier in the year. 

Speaking at the Ahaa forum on Sunday evening, Ameen said arrivals had initially fallen by 24 percent due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which heavily affected key markets. 

He noted that coordinated efforts by the government and the tourism industry had helped narrow the decline to 1.3 percent, significantly improving the outlook for the remaining months. “With these changes and the efforts by the government, the current forecast is hopefully to reach almost last year’s record by the end of this year, or a little bit more,” he said.

Maldives recorded 2.2 million tourist arrivals last year. So far this year, 1.6 million tourists have visited, meaning the country needs roughly 200,000 arrivals per month over the next three months to match last year’s total, according to the ministry.

Ameen said the economy remains highly dependent on tourism, and any external shock, including the Middle East conflict, has a direct impact on national economic performance.