Asia is now Maldives top market

IN a sign of the times, the Asian market has officially toppled Western Europe to become the Maldives’ number one source of arrivals, with China being the key engine of this reversal in market mix.

The Maldives has, since its tourism started decades ago, been the playground for the British, Italians, Germans and French. But last February, for the first time in its tourism history, there were more Chinese travellers than any of the four key European markets – a total of 13,345 Chinese visitors, making up 17.3 per cent of market share.

“We didn’t expect this to happen so soon,” said Ahmed Salih, permanent secretary, Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture, Maldives. “We're very fortunate to have China fill the vacuum when Europe was hit and is still suffering from economic problems.”

By April, Asia-Pacific comprised 28.7 per cent of the Maldives' market share, compared to 24.8 per cent share from Western Europe and 14.5 per cent share from Southern Europe (mainly Italy). In that month, both the latter suffered a decline of 12.2 per cent and 18.6 per cent in arrivals respectively, while Asian markets such as China grew 106.6 per cent, Taiwan by 130.9 per cent, South Korea by 73.6 per cent, Australia by 51 per cent and Indonesia by 30 per cent.

But Europe is still huge, as Europeans stay an average eight nights compared with three nights by the Chinese. Nevertheless, now that the Maldives knew emerging markets such as China were a reality for it, Salih told TTG Asia e-Daily it was exploring ways to cater to their needs and to encourage longer stays by Chinese. The lesson it carries is the need to diversify mix: aside from China, the Maldives tourism ministry is targeting visitors from the Middle East, India and the US.