New waves of Chinese tourists expected in Maldives

As the tourism infrastructure of Maldives is steadily improving, the country of islands is now capable of hosting more Chinese tourists in the future. And it has already started to do so.

Mega Maldives Airlines, which already has direct flights between Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macao, is going to launch new direct flights connecting Zhengzhou. Zhengzhou is an economic powerhouse in Central China, so launching a direct flight would help Maldives reach more Chinese people who have the potential to visit the country.

Furthermore, Air China will also start direct flights from Chongqing to Maldives. Chongqing is one the biggest cities in Southwest China and well known for its rapid economic development in recent years. With the growing number of direct flights, it is possible for Maldives to attract Chinese tourists from different parts of the country. In the first ten months of 2015, approximately 323,000 Chinese tourists visited Maldives. This number is still expected to grow in 2016. With this optimistic development, Maldives hopes to receive half a million Chinese tourists in 2016.

Maldives is applying different measures to make itself better known to Chinese tourists. In late December, the country staged road shows in Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Beijing to introduce new sites. Moreover, Maldives will upgrade its Chinese-language tourism website, so that Chinese tourists will be able to gain direct access to the tourism resources in Maldives.

Source: Xinhuanet

Photo: flickr