Tourism Minister, Dr Abdulla Mausoom has said that China, to which Maldives opened borders earlier this year, will become Maldives’ number one source market for tourism arrivals by the end of the year.

So far this year, 133,962 tourists have arrived from China. That is 10 percent of the total 1.3 million tourists.

As of July this year, 78,158 tourists visited Maldives from China. Since then, more than 50,000 tourists have come from the country in the past one and a half months alone.

Russia has the highest number of tourists so far this year. 152,967 tourists have visited from the country so far, or 11.7 percent of the total.

The second most tourists have visited from India, which is 144,041 tourists or 11 percent.

“China, which is only 1.5 percent behind Russia and 0.8 percent behind India, is fast approaching Maldives’ number one tourist market,” Mausoom said.

He said if it goes at this rate, the Chinese market is expected to top the list before the end of the year.

Source(s): sun.mv

Anew rule has been gazetted to increase the fees of tourist vessels coming to Maldives.

According to the rules, which were gazetted on Thursday, a tourist vessel must arrive in Maldives after arranging an agent to take care of business for the vessel.

Such agentship shall be available to people who have been authorized by the Customs to act as agents for foreign vessels arriving in Maldives under the prescribed regulations. If the agent assigned to the vehicle changes, the Ministry must be notified within three days of the change.

It shall be the responsibility of the agent in charge of any vessel brought into the Maldives under these rules to pay any fees or taxes payable before the vessel leaves. It is also the responsibility of the agent to obtain the permit and pay the fees as per the new regulations.

If the vessel is larger than 20 metres, the cruising permit holders will be required to pay US$100 per day to the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority during the period of docking the vessel in Maldives. Vehicles smaller than 20 meters will not be charged any fee for 90 days.

In addition, foreign tourist vessels docked and operating in Maldivian territory for more than one year will be allowed to do so upon payment of US$3,500 for renewal of the permit.

The ministry said that if the rules are violated, the violator will be fined a large amount. The rules, gazetted Thursday, impose a fine of $1,000 for the first violation, $2,000 for the second violation and $6,000 for more than two violations.

Source{s}: sun.mv

China’s Sichuan Airlines have resumed operations to Maldives after a seven-year break.

The resumption flight, which carried 186 passengers, landed at Velana International Airport at 6:06pm on Sunday evening upon which it received a welcome with a special water salute.

Sichuan Airlines is scheduled to operate three weekly flights to Maldives from Chengdu, China.

The airline last operated a flight to the Maldives on March 23, 2016.

Sichuan Airlines is the largest airline in western China, mostly operating east Asian nations in addition to other Asian and European nations.

The resumption of operations to Maldives by Sichuan Airlines increases the number of Chinese airlines operating to the Maldives to three – the other two being Beijing Capital, which operates weekly charter flights, and China Eastern, offering weekly scheduled flights every Saturday.

China reopened its borders, which was closed at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, early this year. Direct flights to Maldives from China resumed on January 18th after almost three years. However, at present, the Chinese market is among the top three tourist markets to the Maldives.

Source(s): sun.mv