Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) has opened registration for an upcoming Destination Showcase event in London.

In a statement, MATATO said it has signed up as a gold partner of the Travel Weekly Destination Showcase event, set to be held at Grand Connuaght Rooms on November 8.

According to MATATO, up to five partners will be allowed to participate in the event along with MATATO officials. The partners will have access to more than 150 travel agents, and have their logos featured on Aspire, an exclusive membership club for the sellers of luxury travel, it said.

“Due to the limited slots available, the opportunity to participate in the Destination Showcase will be provided on first come first serve basis,” the statement read.

Interested parties are requested to contact the organisation’s Deputy Secretary General Asra Naseem via email.

Set to take place right after the World Travel Market (WTM) London, the Destination Showcase is organised by Travel Weekly, the most successful B2B travel trade title in the UK, in association with European Tourism Association (ETA) and European Cities Marketing (ECM).

Each participating tourism office or supplier will have a dedicated stand space from which to showcase their destination, where they will meet face-to-face with the front line travel agents in order to gain insights on the UK travel industry, to promote their destination as well as launch booking incentives to drive bookings. This showcase will allow delegates to move freely between exhibitors in a relaxed and informal way where they will be rewarded according to the number of exhibitors they engage with.

Alongside the event, Travel Weekly produces a Destination Supplement, which is distributed at the event and with Travel Weekly to over 15,000 agents.

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 10.7 percent in the first half of this year, with arrivals increasing to 320,162 from 289,234.

Britain is a major European source market, as more than 100,000 British travellers visited the Maldives last year — a 9.8 percent increase from the year before. That growth has continued this year, as 51,737 Brits visited the Maldives in the first six months of the year — a 0.4 percent increase from the 51,536 in the same period of last year.

Photo: Steve Dunlop