The Central Bank of Maldives, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), published a survey ‘Maldivians Traveling Abroad’ conducted by the Statistics Division of MMA with the assistance from Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), Maldives Immigration, Aviation Security Command and Maldives Customs Services from 18th to 24th December, 2015.
The prime objective of the MTA 2015 survey was to gather information pertaining to the expenditure incurred by the Maldivians traveling abroad. In other words, an initial investigation to observe the net-worth of Maldives outbound travel market. The data collected was further significant to the current account of the balance of payment and to review the traveling patterns of Maldivians.
Three propositions were ascertained from the survey: average expenditure on airfare, purpose of travel and choice of destination. During the survey period, 7,930 passengers returned back to Maldives. Using a convenience sampling technique, from the total population (7,930), 3,891 participants were interviewed with a response rate of 49%. The findings of the survey reported that the most common destinations for Maldivian travelers were Sri Lanka (40%), India (39%), Malaysia (6%), Thailand (2%) and Singapore (2%) respectively. Seven percent accounts to Maldivians traveling to other destinations.
Similarly, the survey recorded a staggering 58% of Maldivians travelling abroad for medical purposes. This is a significant proportion of the total number traveling for medical purposes while only 27% accounts to vacation/leisure or holiday. Education and training accounted to 6% while 3% contributed to business travels. Expenditure on airfares accounted highest for two destinations: Sri Lanka and India. It was recorded at $197 and $266 respectively. Likewise, airfares to Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore were recorded at $340, $441 and $503.
There were a number of significant limitations noted by the Central Bank in the survey. First, the investigation was conducted during school holidays which accounts to a large number of travelers compared to the rest of the year. Additionally, airfares do not reflect the average price considering the fact that travel agencies conduct massive promotions on school holidays. The number of rejects for the survey tends to be high and could hinder the results of the survey.
