Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC / Visit Maldives) has taken part in the Qatar Business & Luxury Travel (QBLT) Congress and is gearing up for participation in Meetings Arabia & Luxury Travel (MALT) Congress 2022.

QBLT Congress was held on 28th March in Qatar and MALT Congress 2022 will be held from 30th to 31st March in Dubai. Coinciding with both events, Visit Maldives is conducting a Maldives Roadshow in Dubai on 29th March 2022.

During these events, Visit Maldives aims to maintain our destination presence and promote the Maldives as the world’s leading destination in the Middle East market alongside industry partners. It comes under a new short term strategy devised to address the evolving geopolitical climate in the world following the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war. With Russia and CIS topping the arrivals figures in recent years, the strategy is aimed at mitigating the potential negative impact on arrival numbers from this region by re-strategising marketing activities in selected markets to minimise the potential adverse effects on the Maldives tourism industry and the nation’s economy.

QBLT Congress is a luxury closed-door, boutique congress that brings together 50 of the biggest outbound travel buyers of MICE tourism from across Qatar. Tourism boards, hotels and resorts, DMC’s and other international luxury travel suppliers take part in the one-day intensive B2B event. During the event, Visit Maldives had the fantastic opportunity to promote the Maldives as an up-and-coming MICE destination, emphasising that the Maldives is seeking to redefine MICE.

The Visit Maldives team at Qatar met with the Lead Marketing Team from Qatar Airways at the Airline Headquarters to discuss existing and new opportunities, and held talks on different ways to strengthen the joint-marketing efforts and collaborating towards market growth and recovery.

After concluding participation in the QBLT Congress, Visit Maldives will hold a special roadshow in Dubai under the theme ‘Connect with Maldives – Your Safe Haven’, alongside 08 industry partners. During the roadshow, Visit Maldives and industry partners will showcase a destination presentation highlighting the products, experiences, and latest travel guidelines on Maldives. The safety provided by the scattered geography of the Maldives will also be highlighted during the roadshow. The presentation will be followed by a productive night of networking and building new business relations, and a special raffle will be conducted awarding a free holiday in the Maldives.

Visit Maldives will conclude the Middle East journey at MALT Congress 2022. The MALT Congress provides the opportunity for industry partners to connect, converse, and collaborate with regional buyers through pre-arranged one to one business appointments. The exciting exhibition also features expert sessions on lessons learnt in 2021 and the future of the tourism industry.

Last year, Maldives welcomed 91,413 tourists to the country from the Middle East market with Saudi Arabia ranked as the top 7th market to Maldives. This year until January, the country has recorded 5,103 arrivals from the Middle East market. MMPRC has planned several activities targeting the Middle East market under the effort to maintain destination visibility. This includes joint-marketing campaigns, webinars, participation in major fairs and exhibitions, roadshows, and hosting familiarisation trips.

As the company responsible for marketing the Maldives as a destination abroad, MMPRC carried out 260 different marketing activities in 22 global markets last year, including fairs, roadshows, familiarisation trips, marketing campaigns, webinars, and interviews.

The greatest testament to the success of these activities came late last year, as the Maldives secured the title of ‘World’s Leading Destination’ (among several other accolades) at the 2021 World Travel Awards, globally recognised as the hallmark of industry excellence. This is the second consecutive year that the Maldives had successfully earned this prestigious title, a shining testimony of the trust placed in the ‘magic of Maldivian hospitality’ by travellers from all over the globe.

This year also celebrates an exceptional year to visit the Maldives – the Golden Jubilee celebration of tourism in the Maldives kicked off earlier last year with plans to conduct new and exciting activities throughout the year. MMPRC has planned over 60 in-person events for the year 2022, including 11 fairs, roadshows and events scheduled for just the first quarter.