Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has kicked off a marketing campaign with several activities in South Korea to regain destination presence in the market and to increase arrivals from South Korea.

Under the tagline ‘Rediscover Maldives’, MMPRC launched an outdoor bus advertising campaign in Seoul, as well as an online advertising and promotion with honeymoon-focused travel agents.

The main purpose of the three month-long bus advertising campaign is to increase brand awareness of Maldives and to attract tourists from South Korea, especially from the Gangnam area.

Ads will be displayed on five buses till year-end. The displayed images will highlight the naturally distant islands, presenting Maldives as a safe destination to travel to post Covid-19.

“This campaign will reach over 150 million people in South Korea every month, making the bus advertising highly effective in the efforts to promote Maldives. Moreover, it will help restore people’s faith in traveling and give them the reassurance that the Maldives remains a safe haven for them,” MMPRC said, in a statement.

Meanwhile, the four-month-long online advertising campaign aims to portray messages of Maldives as a must visit destination and to deliver the message that the Maldives is ready to welcome Korean guests.

Under this campaign, search ads will be placed in Korea’s biggest portal search engine Naver. Additionally, social media ads will be carried on both Facebook and Instagram, the most popular social media platforms used in South Korea.

An online promotion with agents specialising in honeymoon packages is also being carried out to attract honeymooners and couples to visit the Maldives. The main aim of the promotion is to attract more Korean tourists to Maldives as it is a popular honeymoon destination among Koreans.

During the campaign, Maldives will be promoted through two major honeymoon special agents in South Korea. Each agent will be developing a Maldives special promotional page to drive the audience.

“South Korea is one of the major source markets to the Maldives. With the gradual increase in travel, MMPRC aims to have a strong presence in the South Korean Market. MMPRC has been closely monitoring the market situation of South Korea and re-strategising the marketing activities accordingly,” the statement read.

Prior to the border closure in March, a total of 5,722 visitors from South Korea arrived in the Maldives.

“MMRPC strongly believes that it is important to regain tourists’ confidence in traveling to Maldives by focusing on the fact that Maldives has a natural advantage as the islands are geographically distant, making Maldives one of the safest destinations to travel,” the statement read.

“In addition, strong and stringent safety measures have been implemented in all tourist establishments which ensure the safety of both tourists and staff.”