According to the ‘Maldivians Travelling Abroad Survey’ conducted among 65 percent of the Maldivians who traveled abroad last year, one in every two Maldivians had traveled abroad. Most popular destinations among Maldivians are India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
The survey, which was conducted at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), revealed that the main reason Maldivians travel abroad is to seek better medical facilities. A large number of Maldivians also go abroad for vacations whilst a considerable amount of people travel abroad for further education.
MMA’s survey showed that Maldivian who traveled abroad spent $70 million on medical expenses, $64 million on holidays and $47 million on education altogether.
Out of the 6184 people who took part in the survey, 2597 people traveled to Sri Lanka. Most of the people who traveled to Sri Lanka went there for their holidays. The holidaymakers had spent $1.7 million whilst people who visited Sri Lanka for medical reasons spent $2.2 million.
According to the survey, 2473 Maldivians traveled to India last year. Most of the Maldivians who traveled to India went there for medical reasons and spent approximately $2.1 million. Maldivians who traveled to India on their holidays spent a little more than those who went there for medical purposes as they had spent $2.5 million.
The survey revealed that 618 people had traveled to Malaysia last year. Even though majority of the Maldivians had traveled to Malaysia for medical reasons, more money was spent by the Maldivians who went there on vacation. Maldivians who went to Malaysia had spent $496,872 whilst Maldivians who went there for holidays had spent $714,408.
Maldivians who traveled abroad had spent $48 million on airfare alone.
MMA said that the survey provided a lot of insight in to the spending patterns of the Maldivians who travel abroad. This is the third time the central bank conducted this survey.
Courtesy: Haveeru Online
