Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC / Visit Maldives) has held a webinar to familiarize the Nordic market with local tourism products and experiences. The 1-hour webinar, held on 29th March 2022, was titled “Maldives – Local Islands, Local Experiences” and targeted the travel trade from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

This webinar is part of a three-session series conducted for this market under MMPRC’s strategy to promote the Maldives as a safe haven for travellers from the Nordic region. The purpose of this series was to inform and familiarise the Nordic travel trade on the latest information and travel guidelines from the destination.

The series aims to inspire participants to broaden and extend their Maldives product portfolio. The two preceding sessions of the series was held in 2021, comprising an introductory webinar titled “Welcome to Maldives’ ‘ and “Maldives – a safe haven with unique experiences” webinar. The third webinar in this series aimed to provide the Nordic market with information of the local tourism segment of the Maldives, especially guesthouse experiences, available from the Maldives.

Speaking during the opening of the third webinar of this series, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of MMPRC, Thoyyib Mohamed, highlighted the Maldives’ achievements in controlling the pandemic, and how we became a tourism success story in the process. He also delineated the numerous exciting experiences awaiting tourists who choose local tourism as their preferred stay option. Thoyyib further emphasized the importance of the Nordic market to the Maldives.

MMPRC was joined by Secret Paradise, Angsana Velavaru, and Qatar Airways for this session. Information on the recent ease of covid restrictions in the Maldives was shared with the travel trade from the Nordic market, along with a destination presentation, presentations by member properties, and a presentation by Airline partner. The session was followed by a Q&A session and a raffle was drawn amongst the participants from which one lucky winner was presented with a free holiday to the Maldives sponsored by Angsana Velavaru. Over 100 top travel trade partners from the market were reached per session of this webinar series.

The Nordic market is a promising segment with sustained increase in arrival figures throughout the recent years. In 2021, the Maldives welcomed over 1.3 million visitors, of which 18,507 were from the countries belonging to the Nordic market. This year, the Maldives has seen 9,754 arrivals from the Nordic market up until 28th February.

MMPRC has been holding several activities in this market as part of the effort to boost arrivals and increase brand awareness and destination momentum for the Maldives in the Nordic countries. In 2021 MMPRC held individual media familiarisation trips, travel trade familiarisation trips, with a Campaign with NLTG, along with the previously mentioned 2 webinars in this series. Ongoing activities in this market includes a campaign with Blixen Tours, and activities in the pipeline for this market for 2022 comprise of native ad campaigns, media familiarisation trips, and digital and broadcast joint-campaigns.

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.