Together with 17 tourism industry partners, Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) is taking measures to “reinventing travel in the new normal” at the ITB Asia Virtual 2020.

While the live ITB Asia fair has been postponed to 2021, the virtual fair is being held from October 21-23. Being the leading travel trade show in Asia, the fair is attended by industry professionals from Singapore and worldwide.

The three-day virtual event incorporates features for business matching that enables participants to meet industry leaders and additionally attend top notch conference sessions. This in turn creates a virtual marketplace for the travel industry.

All exhibitors get to showcase a virtual booth which features unique images and videos. Promotional materials are also available for visitors to download.

MMPRC has joined several virtual fairs this year including ATM Virtual, SATTE GenX and PTM Virtual, focusing on different key market regions.

Coinciding with the reopening of the Maldives boarders in July, MMPRC also launched a global campaign called “Rediscover Maldives… the Sunny Side of Life”.

Some other recent promotional activities include an integrated webinar series for tour operators in China, outdoor visibility campaigns in the UK and South Korea, and familiarisation trips for India media, as well as a global digital campaign with CNN.

“MMPRC hopes to increase the number of tourist arrivals from the South East Asian region through similar events and other marketing activities focused on this region,” a statement read.

“Prior to the border closure in March, tourist arrivals from the South East Asian region to the Maldives stood at 11,581. Even though travel limitations still exist, such efforts will be an important enabling factor to capture the travel trends.”