Maldives Promotion House – The Maldives Marketing & PR Corporation (MMPRC) has participated in the Moscow International Travel & Trade fair 2012 (MITT) held in Moscow from 21^st to 25^th March 2012.

The Maldivian delegation comprises of 50 participants representing 16 travel agents and 12 resort chains. MITT fair is the largest exhibition with 3000 participating companies and 185 destinations together with 79930 trade and consumer visitors.

MITT has been a platform for B2B and general consumers, where the resort chains and the travel agents tried to maximize their business through pre arranged appointments. The participants managed to develop business in Russian market during the fair.

The Maldives Pavilion with an area space of 105 sq. meters was located at Forum 413. The floor space was increased this year. In addition, the Maldives stand used a new modern design which helped Maldives to receive an award from the organizer as ‘The best representation of the destination.’ This is the first time that Maldives has received such an award since Maldives began participating in the fair.

During the MITT fair Maldives held a press conference on 23^rd March 2012, inviting 35 media and 25 tour operators, to update the Russian Tour Operators and the media about the developments in Tourism Industry and to update the stake holders with the recent events in the Maldives.

Russia is the 5^th largest market to the Maldives and Maldives has been a popular destination among Russians. At the end of 2011 there was a significant growth of 30.2 percent in the Russian market with a total arrival of 63936 tourists. Russia contributes 6.1 percent of the total market share of the Maldives tourism. Maldives representation in Russia would help the target of attracting a million tourists to the Maldives in 2012.