Passengers get off the first flight into the Maldives in months at the Velana International Airport in Male, the Maldives, July 15, 2020 photo. A Qatar Airways flight carrying 107 foreigners and 27 Maldivians arrived at the airport, marking the first arrival of tourists since the country closed its borders on March 27 last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
Island country Maldives is witnessing a recovery of tourist arrivals that helps its economic rebuilding thanks largely to its firm vaccination efforts and continuous assistance from countries including China.
This year the Indian Ocean country is estimated to have crossed the mark of a million tourist arrivals by the end of October, the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation said.
By Oct 25, it recorded 973,269 tourist arrivals this year, or a daily average of nearly 4,500, according to the country’s Ministry of Tourism.
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This year, India and Russia have outdone China as the biggest sources of tourist arrivals for the Maldives, accounting for 23 percent and 19 percent of all arrivals, respectively.
Local agencies are hoping for more arrivals of Chinese tourists later this year and next year though the pandemic is limiting their travels
Earlier this year, Minister of Tourism Abdulla Mausoom said the nation aimed at garnering 1.3 million tourist arrivals by the end of 2021. Borders were closed in May 2021 for South Asian tourists due to a surge of COVID-19 cases, but were reopened on July 15.
He said reopening the country's borders has been an important step to revive the economy.
Local agencies are hoping for more arrivals of Chinese tourists later this year and next year though the pandemic is limiting their travels. Officials in the country have expressed appreciation for China's continued support for the country's economic revival and close bilateral cooperation in fishery, agriculture and renewable energy.
The ministry’s data showed that 102,434 tourists visited the Maldives from Oct 1 to 24, an almost six-time increase from the same period in 2020 but a 2 percent decrease compared to 2019, the state-owned PSM News reported.
The Maldives attracted a record 1.7 million foreign tourists in 2019, a 15 percent increase from the previous year, according to the government, with China the biggest source of visitors. Tourist arrivals to the Maldives declined significantly in 2020 due to border closures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to rules announced by local authorities implemented since July 8, individuals who have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine can travel between islands without a compulsory quarantine period. But travelers have to show a negative PCR test taken at least 14 days after their second dose.
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The tourism recovery seems linked to its effective control of the virus that has resulted from vaccination drive since February, as well as the continuous assistance by the Chinese government.
Data from the Health Protection Agency showed that the number of daily infections on Oct 29 stayed at 113, with total number of cases accumulated in the country at 86,324 and the total number of deaths reaching 227.
The Maldives authorities started its vaccination drive on Feb 1, which is open and free of charge to all citizens, residents, and undocumented immigrants above 18 years old. However, they first prioritized frontline health workers and other high-risk groups.
According to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, by late September the government had fully vaccinated 85 percent of its eligible population against COVID-19.
Over 337,000 people in the Maldives have received two doses of a vaccine against the COVID-19 pandemic, local media citing data from the HPA reported on Sept 29.
The vaccines adopted by the country include Sinopharm, Covishield, Pfizer, Sputnik V, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, etc.
Ahmed Naseem, Minister of Health had thanked the Chinese government for their generous contributions upon its first arrival of donated Sinopharm vaccines in March. The vaccines made by Sinopharm were given to people aged between 18 and 60, local media reported.
This Aug 26, 2019 aerial photo shows the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge in the Maldives. (WANG MINGLIANG / XINHUA)
During a telephone talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping in July, President Solih underscored that China has been one of the most significant development partners of the Maldives over the years apart from anti-pandemic cooperation.
Munshi Faiz Ahmad, former chairman of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, said that China’s effort in providing vaccines to other countries in Asia Pacific is laudable, as many countries, especially certain developed countries, “want to make a profit of it or peddle influence” or “have domination over others with it”, as a kind of vaccine nationalism.
He said China is a vanguard in playing a more positive role, helping other countries with difficulties in obtaining vaccines.
The COVID-19 pandemic has battered the Maldives' fragile economy, and the government is focusing on rebuilding the tourism sector and diversifying the economy, the president said in an earlier interview with Xinhua.
Moreover, people in the Maldives are also concerned with climate change effects. Earlier, President Solih has made critical statements, noting how the climate emergency would be catastrophic to the vulnerable country and humanity as a whole.
He said his country is interested in closer cooperation on climate-related projects. Both the president and high-level officials of the country have emphasized how the Maldives will not sit back and wait.
Contact the writer at vivienxu@chinadailyapac.com
*With inputs from Xinhua