Online travel marketplace, KOALA, has analyzed Google data to determine which destinations Americans have been searching for the most in the last six months and #Maldives has landed the third spot on the top country destinations with over 312,200 searches.
As per their report, Top Country Destinations relate to the total number of searches made for each destination between April and October 2020 and were sourced using Google Ads’ Keyword Planner. For each destination, they analyzed the number of searches for the following terms:
The figures suggest that the majority of Americans are planning a trip fairly close to home once pandemic-related restrictions allow it, with Puerto Rico the most popular destination.
Of course, Puerto Rico is an unincorporated U.S. territory, and Americans don’t even need a passport to travel there. The Caribbean island is about four hours from major cities such as New York, Dallas, and Philadelphia.
Mexico, always a popular tourist destination for travelers from the U.S., came in second place, although it seems that some Americans are still planning on traveling further afield, with the Maldives taking third place.
Perfect crystal blue waters, beautiful weather and overwater luxury bungalows make the Maldives a premier destination for Americans every year. Looking at the year 2020, America was the eighth most tourist arrival country with 19,759 visitors.
Maldives reopened borders to all nationalities from 15th July 2020. All visitors are granted a 30-day free on-arrival visa with a confirmed booking for a stay at any registered tourist facility in the country.
Maldives has also extended ‘Split Stay’ for all types of tourist accommodation facilities, allowing tourists to split their stay between resort, hotels, guesthouses and liveaboard boats, with prior approval as per split-stay procedure and guideline by the Ministry of Tourism.
While there is no mandatory quarantine or testing on arrival, tourists traveling to Maldives are required to complete an online health declaration form and provide a negative PCR test result taken at least 96 hours prior to their departure.
The negative PCR test result must be attached while completing Traveler Health Declaration form, which has to be submitted online via IMUGA (www.imuga.immigration.gov.mv), by all arriving passengers before arrival (but not exceeding 24 hours before arrival time).
