MALE– Maldives welcomed the first direct flight from China with a water cannon salute, following the latter’s recent optimisation of COVID-19 strategy.

The Capital Airlines’ flight, with over 190 Chinese tourists aboard, was received yesterday by Chinese Ambassador, Wang Lixin, Tourism Minister of the Maldives, Abdulla Mausoom, and other officials at the Velana International Airport.

As tourism is the pillar industry of the Maldives, the return of Chinese tourists will help economic recovery of the Maldives, following the pandemic, and is also conducive to promoting cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and enhancing bilateral ties, Wang said, at the welcoming ceremony.

Wang said, the Chinese embassy welcomes Chinese tourists to the Maldives, hoping that they will come happily, have fun and return safely.

Mausoom said, at the ceremony that, the Maldives earlier forecast 1.8 million tourists for this year, and at least 10 percent increase is expected from the original forecast as Chinese tourists, who had contributed a lot to the tourism market of the Maldives, are arriving again.

China had remained as the largest source of tourist arrivals in the Maldives for years before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2019, nearly 300,000 Chinese tourists visited the Maldives, accounting for around 17 percent of total tourist arrivals that year.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK