Colombo—The Maldives is seeing a strong economic recovery after being one of the first countries to reopen its borders to tourists. An international rating agency said Friday as it upgraded its credit score.
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The country reopened its borders last July and was able to keep foreign holidaymakers flocking to its white-sanded beaches away from the local population of 340,000.
The Maldives has 1,192 tiny coral islets scattered some 800 kilometers (500 miles) across the equator, and dedicated tourist resorts are separated from inhabited islands.
Tourists arriving at its international airport are ferried by boat or seaplane to secluded resort islands.
Fitch Ratings, upgrading the country's credit rating to B-, said tourism had rebounded to around 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels so far this year.
"We assume a gradual further normalization of tourist arrivals to over 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels in 2022 and to around 100 percent in 2023," Fitch said.
According to the government, Maldives attracted a record 1.7 million foreign tourists in 2019, a 15 percent increase from the previous year, with China the most significant source of visitors.
Fitch said that its economy is expected to expand by almost a third this year and 10 percent in 2022 after a 33.5 percent contraction last year, one of the sharpest drops globally.
"The development of a new terminal at the main international airport, in particular, should allow for a significant increase in the number of tourists over the coming years, while new resorts are also being built," the rating agency said.
The country has fully vaccinated its resort staff against Covid-19. As a result, it has suffered 243 virus deaths out of some 87,487 infections.
Fitch's upgrade came a day after rival firm Moody's downgraded neighboring Sri Lanka by a notch as the island nation faced a severe foreign exchange shortage.
The two countries have close tourism and trade links.
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