Qatar Airways and Visit Maldives have agreed a strategic partnership to further grow international tourism to the tropical island getaway.

The agreement brings together an airline and destination that have been leaders throughout the pandemic in providing safe, reliable and luxurious travel experiences despite the many challenges.

“The Maldives has always been a strategically important destination in our network, as demonstrated by our airline being the first to resume international services and our rapid expansion of flights from daily to four daily in less than 12 months,” Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said.

“This partnership with Visit Maldives is a natural next step in achieving both of our organisations’ long term objectives for this route and we look forward to working closely with Visit Maldives to help further grow international tourism to the Maldives.”

The strategic partnership will see the two organisations collaborate on marketing activities in several markets around the world to further grow international visitor numbers to the Maldives, maximising the opportunities provided by Qatar Airways’ extensive global network of over 140 destinations.

“I am delighted that Qatar Airways has increased flights to the Maldives! This increase is an indication of Qatar Airways’ continued trust and support in the future of Maldivian tourism. Qatar Airways have always supported us at Visit Maldives, the tourism marketing body of Maldives, with our global marketing campaigns. We appreciate the immense support given by Qatar Airways during this challenging period in history. The increase in flight frequency from Qatar Airways gives confidence to travellers across the world that Maldives is one of the safest destinations to travel to during this time,” Thoyyib Mohamed, Managing Director of Visit Maldives, said.

“With regular joint webinars conducted for key markets, launching of special packages such as “safe travel bubble package” last year, and with an exciting joint campaign targeting 14 markets in the pipeline, Qatar Airways is instrumental in the marketing campaigns undertaken by Visit Maldives to promote Maldives as a safe haven. We are extremely excited about this decision by Qatar Airways, and we look forward to seeing the success of this new development.”

Less than a year after being the first international airline to resume services to the Maldives in 2020 July with daily flights, Qatar Airways expanded operations to four daily on July 1, 2021.

Passengers travelling to the Maldives can enjoy the airline’s renowned five-star service on board a mix of the airline’s state-of-the-art Airbus A320 and Boeing 777 aircraft.

“Qatar Airways was there to reopen the Maldives borders and restart tourism. The touchdown of Qatar Airways flight QR672 from Doha to Male on 15th July 2020, with 129 passengers was a new beginning for the airline as well as the Maldives. Since then the presence and frequency of flights has been increasing,” the Maldives tourism minister Dr Abdulla Mausoom said.

“Being amongst the top three passenger carriers to the Maldives, we appreciate the support and engagement of Qatar Airways in the Maldives tourism recovery. With the addition of these new frequencies to Maldives, Qatar Airways is sending a strong message to the world, a commitment, that when the borders and gates open they will be there. We are glad they are here in the Maldives. Thank you Qatar Airways for being an important partner of the tourism success story of Maldives.”

Since reopening the borders for international travellers on July 15, 2020, the Maldives has been hailed a major tourism success story amidst the pandemic.

With an arrival figure of almost one million travellers, the Maldivian tourism industry is on the path to achieving pre-pandemic arrival figures. Travellers from the Middle East region were among the leading arrivals to the Maldives post the lockdown period and continue to grow stronger day-by-day.

The success of Maldivian tourism industry can be attributed to the blessings of the natural socially-distanced geography of Maldives and the immense effort undertaken by all relevant industries in Maldives.

In addition, stringent measures are undertaken at every step of the process to ensure the utmost safety and wellbeing of travellers, tourism industry employees, and the local community.

As travellers return to the skies with Qatar Airways, they can take comfort knowing that they are travelling with the only airline in the world that has, together with its state-of-the-art global hub Hamad International Airport, achieved four five-star Skytrax ratings – including the prestigious Five-Star Airline Rating, Five-Star Airport Rating, Five-Star Covid-19 Airline Safety Rating and Five-Star Covid-19 Airport Safety Rating.

These achievements highlight Qatar Airways’ commitment to providing our passengers with an industry-leading experience at every point of their journey, including the highest possible level of health and safety standards that safeguard the wellbeing of our passengers both on the ground and in the air.

Passengers can book flights with peace of mind, knowing that Qatar Airways offers unlimited date changes and fee-free refunds for all tickets issued before August 31, for travel completed by May 31, 2022.

The carrier’s industry-leading flexible booking policy also provides the permanent feature of exchanging tickets for a travel voucher with 10 per cent additional value for all customers booking travel via qatarairways.com.