The recorded number of tourists that visited the Maldives in March 2018  has escalated by 18 percent compared to March 2017

According to the statistics released last Tuesday by Ministry of Tourism, a total of 133,466 tourists visited the country despite travel warnings, and a state of emergency.

The highest number of visitors were from the European market with 82,383 tourists, including 13,198 visitors from  Italy and 14,692 from Germany. This is a 33 percent growth compared to last year's 61,927 tourists. Europe has made the biggest contribution to the tourism market during the past three months, with 56.8 percent of the total visitors.

However there was a drop in the number of tourists from China, which is a normally a major supplier of holidaymakers.There were 13,203 Chinese visitors to the Maldives in March, with a 27 percent increase from last year. 

The Maldives welcomed a record 1.3 million tourists last year, after the government fell short of reaching a target of 1.5 million the past two years.