Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the Maldives Sunday, making a historic visit to the Indian Ocean tourist destination at the start of a three-nation South Asian tour.

Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen received Xi and his entourage at the international airport, located on a small islet near the capital island Male where an official state welcome awaits him Monday.

Xi and his wife were taken to the nearby Paradise Island Resort and Spa, a self-contained super-luxury islet, state television said in a live broadcast of the first arrival of a Chinese leader in the archipelago.

The visitors were seen boarding the Maldivian president's official yacht for a 20-minute ride to the exclusive resort whose local name is Lankanfinolhu.

Officials said the Chinese head of state would travel to the capital island Male on Monday morning for a formal welcome that will be followed by talks.

The two men are due to build on their meeting in the Chinese city of Nanjing last month.

Xi is due to travel to neighbouring Sri Lanka on Tuesday and leave Wednesday for his final destination India, the regional superpower.

Maldivian officials said the two sides are expected to discuss Chinese financial support for building a bridge between the congested capital Male and the airport island of Hululle, a distance of about one kilometre (0.6 miles).

They are also expected to discuss a new runway at the international airport, the key gateway for tourists which are the main source of foreign exchange for the nation of 330,000 Sunni Muslims.

Tourism accounts for more than a quarter of the country's $2.3 billion economy.

The Maldives, which is known as an upmarket destination for well-heeled holidaymakers, welcomed more than a million tourists last year -- over 30 percent of them Chinese.

The Maldives has also been plagued by rising religious extremism in recent years with calls to adopt Islamic sharia law, a move rejected by the government.