China's collapse and comeback rewired who visits the Maldives
In 2021 China sent 2,000 visitors — down from 300,000. India and Russia filled the gap; by 2025 China was back on top. The Maldives' top-market table has been rewritten three times in six years.
Executive summary
No single number captures how volatile the demand side of Maldives tourism has become better than this one: in 2019, China sent the Maldives nearly 300,000 visitors and was comfortably its largest market. In 2021, it sent 2,000 — a 99% collapse, as China’s zero-COVID policy shut down outbound travel entirely. By 2025, China was back at 329,000 and #1 again. In between, the country’s top-market table was rewritten twice over.
Data table
| Period | China | India | Russia | UK | Germany | Italy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 1999 | — | 118,179 | — | 378,042 | 729,768 | 608,251 |
| Jan 2000 | — | 120,459 | — | 439,076 | 766,555 | 686,373 |
| Jan 2001 | — | 123,269 | — | 500,372 | 796,656 | 771,168 |
| Jan 2002 | — | 127,223 | — | 558,065 | 818,140 | 846,315 |
| Jan 2003 | 106,654 | 130,677 | — | 637,284 | 843,480 | 948,180 |
| Jan 2004 | 108,728 | 133,871 | 67,220 | 735,775 | 864,306 | 1,030,075 |
| Jan 2005 | 109,852 | 133,241 | 81,653 | 804,756 | 859,395 | 1,053,961 |
| Jan 2006 | 124,074 | 133,689 | 102,584 | 886,361 | 863,245 | 1,127,016 |
| Jan 2007 | 152,705 | 138,363 | 131,729 | 973,853 | 863,188 | 1,192,157 |
| Jan 2008 | 191,083 | 144,787 | 175,182 | 1,045,386 | 857,740 | 1,242,048 |
| Jan 2009 | 250,341 | 148,531 | 210,292 | 1,099,784 | 850,752 | 1,275,897 |
| Jan 2010 | 369,874 | 162,553 | 255,237 | 1,158,213 | 851,543 | 1,286,217 |
| Jan 2011 | 569,861 | 181,910 | 315,745 | 1,198,802 | 855,563 | 1,280,848 |
| Jan 2012 | 798,462 | 203,015 | 378,515 | 1,219,138 | 876,272 | 1,237,179 |
| Jan 2013 | 1,129,361 | 232,518 | 451,011 | 1,227,856 | 903,721 | 1,179,293 |
| Jan 2014 | 1,487,945 | 266,728 | 509,769 | 1,236,183 | 938,837 | 1,122,200 |
| Jan 2015 | 1,841,615 | 307,594 | 541,984 | 1,234,969 | 973,207 | 1,047,512 |
| Jan 2016 | 2,154,847 | 363,550 | 570,431 | 1,222,821 | 1,006,621 | 987,670 |
| Jan 2017 | 2,460,094 | 436,309 | 617,780 | 1,239,534 | 1,062,948 | 1,006,422 |
| Jan 2018 | 2,729,253 | 514,712 | 666,760 | 1,246,141 | 1,109,650 | 992,790 |
| Jan 2019 | 2,990,260 | 663,415 | 718,284 | 1,247,182 | 1,168,942 | 1,011,887 |
| Jan 2020 | 2,983,389 | 709,712 | 730,693 | 1,183,081 | 1,136,137 | 954,754 |
| Jan 2021 | 2,923,172 | 985,649 | 913,101 | 1,139,908 | 1,162,410 | 892,771 |
| Jan 2022 | 2,815,403 | 1,201,275 | 1,065,944 | 1,205,059 | 1,218,734 | 900,777 |
| Jan 2023 | 2,798,568 | 1,379,490 | 1,211,154 | 1,256,545 | 1,263,308 | 935,974 |
| Jan 2024 | 2,827,927 | 1,478,574 | 1,369,980 | 1,346,414 | 1,322,203 | 1,018,864 |
| Jan 2025 | 2,818,796 | 1,572,185 | 1,572,262 | 1,462,717 | 1,396,427 | 1,114,424 |
The order of the leaderboard tells the story on its own:
- 2019 — China, India, Italy, Germany, UK
- 2023 — India, Russia, China
- 2025 — China, Russia, UK, Germany, Italy
Three different #1 markets in six years. The resort base didn’t move; the world that fills it did.
The three movers
China — the V. A near-total collapse in 2020–22 under zero-COVID, then a steep recovery once outbound travel reopened. China’s return is the single biggest swing in the recent data and the reason the 2025 table looks like 2019 again at the top.
India — surge, then a sharp reversal. With China shut, India became the Maldives’ #1 market in 2021 (292,000). Then it fell hard — from 209,000 in 2023 to about 131,000 in 2024, a ~37% drop widely reported as the fallout of a 2024 India–Maldives diplomatic row and a consumer boycott. India has not recovered to its peak.
Russia — the war-era riser. From 83,000 in 2019 to 279,000 in 2025, Russia climbed to the #2 slot as the Maldives stayed open to Russian travellers through a period when many Western destinations did not.
Through all of it, the European base — the UK, Germany and Italy — grew steadily and quietly, the ballast under a churning top of the table.
The honest limit
This is a descriptive record, not a model. The movements are real and precisely measured, but the causes — China’s outbound ban, India’s boycott, Russia’s reorientation — are drawn from public reporting and the timing fit, not from a structural estimate. That estimate is the next layer: tying each market’s arrivals to its own income, prices and exchange rate to ask not just what moved but how sensitive each market is. This report is the foundation that layer is built on.
Methodology
Annual tourist arrivals by country of nationality, from the Maldives Monetary Authority’s by-market series (China 153, Russia 116, India 169, UK 127, Germany 142, Italy 132), 2010–2025. Counts are arrivals, not bednights, and reflect nationality as recorded at entry.
Source: Avé Intelligence · Maldives Monetary Authority tourist arrivals by country · n=6 markets, 2010–2025.
Sources
- Avé Intelligence
- Maldives Monetary Authority (arrivals by country)
- Ministry of Tourism (Maldives)
- News & trade reporting