Tension between India and Maldives started last year when Mohammed Muizzu became President. Muizzu came to power by running an election campaign against India and then became a ‘slave’ of China.
Earlier this year, PM Modi had visited Lakshadweep, after which social media users started posting about India preferring the destination over Maldives.
Now its effect is also visible. The number of people from India is continuously decreasing in the list of foreign tourists reaching Maldives.
Due to this, India has fallen further down to the sixth position in the list of top 10 markets of Maldives tourism. This means that the number of tourists reaching Maldives from India has further reduced.
Indians spend a lot going to Maldives, due to which their economy also benefits. Now that the number of tourists is decreasing, Maldives may not yearn for every penny in the future.
Maldives’ Aadhaadhoo has quoted the figures of the Ministry of Tourism as saying that the number of Indian tourists visiting Maldives has declined by 33 percent.
Last year till March 4, 41054 Indian tourists had visited Maldives, but till March 2 this year this number has come down to 27,224. In the last three years i.e. in 2021, 2022 and 2023, more than two lakh tourists have been visiting Maldives every year, but now it is continuously decreasing.
India at sixth place on tourism ranking
A list was released by the Tourism Ministry of Maldives on March 4. India is at number six in this. Since Mohammed Muizzu became the President of Maldives, India’s number has been going down in this ranking list.
Till the end of December last year, India was quite high in this list. As of December 31, India’s share was 11 percent. After this, around January 2, India’s ranking came down to 10th. At the same time, it fell further and reached fifth place on January 21 and now it has fallen further to reach sixth place.
China moved from 10th to first place
Meanwhile, Maldives has benefited from China’s friendship. China has directly moved from 10th position to first position. Now 12 percent of the total tourists arriving in Maldives are Chinese tourists. After this, Russia is at second position, Italy is at third position, Britain is at fourth position and Germany is at fifth position.
Maldives has come closer to China amid tension with India. Maldivian President Mohammed Muizzu had also recently visited China and while meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping, signed 20 important agreements including tourism.
It is believed that due to this reason the number of Chinese tourists in Maldives has increased significantly.