Tourist arrivals to the Maldives for April fell by 2.9 percent year-on-year to 102,242, recording a decrease across all major markets except China.

Arrivals from Europe—which still represents the biggest Maldivian market as a region—saw a decline of 12.1 percent YoY to 47,459. German tourist arrivals fell by 18.3 percent YoY to 8,388, British arrivals fell by 7.1 percent YoY to 8,793, Italian tourist levels decreased by 18.7 percent to 5,686 while Russian arrivals saw a decline of 30.8 percent to 3,855.

Asia Pacific arrivals increased by 5 percent YoY, with major contributions from the Chinese market which grew by 9.8 percent YoY to 26,398. Indian arrivals recorded a 3.5 percent increase YoY to 3,750, Japanese arrivals grew marginally by 1.3 percent YoY to 2,822 and visitors from Thailand jumped up 30 percent YoY to 2,053. Arrivals from Sri Lanka inched up 0.4 percent YoY to 1,300.

However, Korean arrivals fell by 25.2 percent YoY to 2,565 and Australian arrivals saw a 10.2 percent decline YoY to 1,993. Tourist arrivals from North and South America saw a growth of 16.5 percent YoY to 4,550 with travellers from the United States dominating with a 26.1 percent growth YoY to 2,900 while the Middle Eastern market increased by 16.8 percent YoY to 3,408.

The four months ending April 2015 saw inbound tourists increasing by just 1.3 percent YoY to 432,210. European arrivals fell by 2.5 percent YoY to 213,638 and Asia Pacific arrivals increased by 3.3 percent YoY to 185,329, while 16,525 travellers arrived from the Americas recording a 14.2 percent increase YoY and 13,923 from the Middle East with a 23.2 percent increase YoY.

The average bed night per tourist in April was 5.86, recording a decline of 7.4 percent YoY, while the first four months recorded 5.94 bed nights per tourist, decreasing by 4.4 percent YoY. Room occupancy level for April was 73.3 percent recording a 6.6 percent fall YoY, while the four-month duration saw a 5.3 percent decrease to 77.5 percent.

Arrivals to Sri Lanka in April were 122,217 with an increase of 8.5 percent YoY, while the first four months saw an increase of 12.45 percent YoY to 601,055 tourists.

Sri Lanka’s John Keells group and Aitken Spence group have considerable presence in the archipelago as they manage a number of resort hotels there.