Ministry of Tourism revealed that Maldives recorded 22,007 tourist arrivals since the country's borders reopened on July 15, until October 5.
According to the ministry's updates, 3,140 arrivals were recorded in the first five days of October while the number of tourists stood at 1,752 in the last 15 days of July, 7,628 throughout August and 9,538 throughout September.
The daily average number of visitors increased from 117 in July to 246 in August, 318 in September and 628 in October.
However, prior to border closing, the daily average stood at 4,2016 arrivals from January to March. A total of 382,760 arrivals were recorded before Maldives closed its air and sea borders to tourist arrivals from March 27, in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
With the restart of the industry, the ministry disclosed that 223 establishments, including resorts, hotels and vessels have reopened, adding up to a total bed capacity of 24,000.
Moreover, the tourism ministry also noted that, with guesthouses and local tourism set to resume on October 15, Maldives is expecting "a significant boost in our journey towards the recovery of the tourism industry".
"To ensure the safety of our citizens and the visitors to the local islands, we will ensure health standards are met as per the guidelines in these guesthouses island, prior to their opening".
"As such, a guideline is being formulated to administer the opening of guesthouses which will require all tourists departing from guests houses in local islands to undertake a PCR test within 72 hours prior to their departure", the ministry said.
The restrictions on international travel due to the ongoing pandemic left Maldives' heavily tourism reliant economy in an extremely vulnerable state. In mid-April, the World Bank projected that Maldives would be the worst-hit economy in the South Asian region due to COVID-19.
However, the Minister of Tourism expressed hopes for the industry's recovery in late August, and estimated that 100,000 tourists will visit Maldives before the year ends.
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