Maldives has invited proposals from public relations agencies to promote the country’s tourism in the UK and France.

In separate tenders, state owned tourism promotion company Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) said the successful agency from each country would be required to develop and implement public relations campaigns to position the Maldives as a preferred tourist destination. The agencies would also be responsible for monitoring and reporting on key areas that affect tourist arrivals to the Maldives from their respective countries, it added.

According to the tender documents, the public relations campaigns undertaken by the successful agencies should include roadshows, familiarisation trips for media and travel trade representatives, production and distribution of newsletters, participation in travel trade shows, sales calls and meetings, and social media marketing as well as serve as a liaison between MMPRC and local tourism bodies, travel agents, tour operators and other relevant stakeholders.

Monitoring and reporting activities should include a monthly report on market and economic trends, media monitoring, and managing and updating a database of media and tour operators, the tender documents said.

Deadline for submission of proposals is June 14. MMPRC will evaluate the proposals before selecting two agencies to represent the Maldives in the UK and France for a period of one year.

MMPRC routinely appoints public relations agencies in key markets to promote tourism.

Europe is the single biggest source market for the Maldives tourism industry with a share of over 50 percent of total arrivals. According to official figures, the European marked observed an year on year increase of 7.6 percent in the first three months of this year with arrivals increasing to 193,687 from 179,943.

Britain and France remain traditional source markets, but arrivals from the two countries have become stagnant after a period of recovery. Arrivals from France increased 2.6 percent in the first three months of this year compared to January-March 2016, while arrivals from the UK dropped 1.1 percent in the period.