Almudena Esparza, una mujer de España, se ha convertido en la turista número un millón en visitar las Maldivas este año.

On Saturday, she and her partner flew to the Maldives on a Qatar Airways flight.

Visit Maldives, together with the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation and Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), organized a unique celebratory event at Velana International Airport (VIA) to commemorate her arrival.

Esparza was welcomed in person by Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Mohamed Ameen.

The Maldives received an unprecedented 2.2 million visitors last year. The island locale, which secured the title of World's Leading Destination at the World Travel Awards (WTA) for the sixth year in a row in 2025, initially aimed to increase tourist arrivals to 2.4 million this year.

However, despite a robust beginning to the year, the nation has experienced a decline in arrivals because of global challenges and flight interruptions caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

The Maldives celebrated the arrival of its one millionth tourist last year on June 7, which was the quickest the island nation reached this milestone.

In a post on X, Ameen noted that achieving the one-million mark despite considerable global air travel disruptions, especially in the Middle East corridor, showcases the strength of the Maldivian tourism industry.

He expressed gratitude to all tourism stakeholders and airlines for their commitment over recent months and also conveyed special thanks to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and the government for their prompt decisions and ongoing support.

“I believe the rest of 2026 will make this a robust year,” he stated.