Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), on Wednesday, revealed that Velana International Airport (VIA) recorded 1,148 air traffic movements during the month of October.
According to statistics by MACL, 640 of these were international movements while the remaining 508 were domestic movements.
October 2020 stats @VelanaAirport pic.twitter.com/leSeKn5VRH
— Maldives Airports Company Ltd - MACL (@MACLmedia) November 4, 2020
The recorded values of October show an increase of 418 movements compared to the total 730 air traffic movements in September.
Maldives’ main airport VIA’s passenger traffic also saw a notable spike last month, climbing to 25,520 visitors from foreign countries and 6,416 visitors from local islands.
In addition, stats also show that 22,828 departed from Maldives in October while 6,284 passengers travelled to various islands from VIA.
Since Maldives reopened its borders on July 15, after over three months of closure as a preventive measure to curb the spread of COVID-19, a total of 16 airlines resumed operations to the island nation by the end of October.
Despite the lifting of restrictions, Maldives has noted a significant reduction in tourist arrivals compared to pre-COVID figures.
Minister of Toursim Dr Abdulla Mausoom had earlier expressed hopes for the industry's recovery, estimating that 100,000 tourists would visit Maldives before the end of 2020.
In order to reach the estimated total of 500,000 arrivals for the year, Maldives requires an additional 79, 685 tourist arrivals.
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