- Maldives tourist arrivals rose 1.7 per cent year-on-year in August to 195,390, ending two months of decline.
- January-August arrivals totalled 1,423,176, down 4.3 per cent from 2025, leaving a shortfall of 63,750 tourists.
- August offset only about 5 per cent of the accumulated shortfall, requiring sustained gains to close the gap.
Tourist arrivals to the Maldives returned to year-on-year growth in August after two consecutive months of decline, although the improvement left arrivals for the first eight months of 2026 below last year’s level.
The country received 195,390 tourists during August, compared with 192,058 in August 2025, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation’s daily update issued on 2 September. This represents an increase of 3,332 tourists, or 1.7 per cent.
The report separately records growth of 2.1 per cent in total visitor arrivals, a broader measure that includes business arrivals and cruise passengers alongside tourists. That combined total rose from 193,529 to 197,640. The tourist-only figures provide the basis for the comparisons below.
August was the strongest month for tourist arrivals since February, with numbers increasing by 6.7 per cent from July’s 183,119. Its return to annual growth followed year-on-year declines of 12.9 per cent in June and 1.9 per cent in July.
Across January to August, however, tourist arrivals totalled 1,423,176, down 4.3 per cent from 1,486,926 during the corresponding period in 2025. Growth in January and February had been followed by substantial declines in March and April, when arrivals fell by 20.7 per cent and 25.6 per cent respectively. A modest increase in May was followed by further declines in June and July.
August’s improvement narrowed the cumulative shortfall from 67,082 tourists at the end of July to 63,750 at the end of August. The month’s additional arrivals therefore recovered approximately 5 per cent of the gap accumulated during the first seven months, leaving a substantial shortfall despite the return to growth.
