Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has announced plans to conduct over 45 promotional events and activities in 2020.

The international travel trade fairs that the state tourism promotion company plans to take part in next year include:

• SATTE, India
• MATKA, Finland
• FITUR International Tourism Trade Fair, Spain
• Fespo, Switzerland
• Business, Mice and Leisure Market (BLTM), India
• Bride Show, Dubai
• BIT, Africa
• ITB Berlin, Germany
• Riyadh Travel Fair, Saudi Arabia
• WTM Africa, South Africa
• ITB India, Mumbai
• Arabian Travel Market (ATM), Dubai
• ITB China, Shanghai
• Korea Wedding Show, South Korea
• NATAS, Singapore
• MATTA, Malaysia
• Diving Resort Travel DRT, Philippines
• Monaco Yacht Show, Monaco
• Vivah Wedding & Lifestyle Expo, India
• IFTM Top Resa, France
• TTG Travel Experience, Italy
• ITB Asia, Singapore
• Tourism EXPO Japan (JATA), Japan
• China International Travel Mart (CITM), China
• World Travel Market (WTM) London, United Kingdom
• International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), France

MMPRC will also host dedicated roadshows in Russia, China, the US, Spain, Germany, Italy and India, as well as throughout ASEAN, Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Additionally, networking events will be held in Germany, India, China, Thailand, Japan and the UK.

MMPRC took part in 17 fairs in 2018 and some 20 this year.

Maldives has welcomed over a million tourists this year, as the destination attempts to reach an ambitious target of 1.5 million visitors over the next three months.

The one millionth visitor of the year arrived in the Maldives on August 2 — a month ahead of last year. In 2018, the one millionth mark was reached on September 9, whilst it was celebrated in October the previous year.

Maldives welcomed a record 1.4 million tourists in 2018. It was a 6.8 per cent increase from the 1,389,542 tourists that chose to holiday in the Maldives in 2017.

Meanwhile, government has revised its forecast for the number of tourists visiting the island nation this year, increasing the estimate to a record 1.6 million from 1.5 million.

This positive growth in the tourism industry comes amidst concerns by private organisations representing industry stakeholders such as the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) over the lack of effort and budget to promote the Maldives as a destination.

These concerns come as the world-famous holiday destination struggles to match an increased bed capacity.

Over the past few years, dozens of uninhabited islands have been leased to local and foreign resort developers. Several international brands have entered into the market, increasing the number of resorts to more than 130. That number is set to increase as another 20 resorts are expected to open over the next two years.

Along with the new resort openings come the challenge of increasing demand from budget travellers who choose guesthouses over luxury resorts that the Maldives is known for. The guesthouse sector has rapidly expanded with over 500 guesthouses in operation today.

The previous government announced steps to maintain a structured growth in tourism, including a slowdown in leasing islands for resort development and increased marketing efforts in key markets such as China and the Middle East in order to reach an ambitious target of a record 1.5 million tourist arrivals this year.

Meanwhile, the new government has pledged to ramp up tourism promotion.

Reflecting the new government’s pledge, the state budget for 2019 includes MVR 104,200,000 (USD 6.7 million) for tourism promotion, up from MVR 34,733,333 (USD 2.2 million) this year and the previous year.