Media professionals from leading media outlets from the United Kingdom have arrived in the Maldives by invitation from Maldives Marketing and Public Relation Corporation’s (MMPRC / Visit Maldives) for a familiarisation trip entitled “Maldives as a bucket-list destination”. The team will be staying in the Maldives from 03rd to 08th May 2022.

This team consists of professionals from the media outlets The Sun, Sunday Mail, Hello Magazine, House of Coco Magazine, and About Time. During this trip, they will be hosted at The Standard Huruvalhi Maldives and Fairmont Maldives Sirru Fen Fushi resorts, where they will experience the world-renowned Maldivian hospitality, unique experiences, and different cuisines at their host properties. The team will publish articles about the destination and host resorts in their respective magazines and publications, which has extensive reach among travellers from the UK.

The purpose of this trip is to further promote the destination amongst potential travelers from the UK. The trip is expected to generate huge coverage highlighting the unique geographical advantage of our scattered islands and the one-island-one-resort concept which makes Maldives one of the safest holiday destinations in the world. It will further help to promote the unique experiences and individual tourism products of the Maldives (resorts, guesthouses, liveaboards, and hotels).

This trip is organised as part of MMPRC’s marketing strategy for the UK market, aiming to provide the latest information about the travel guidelines to potential travellers from the region. This trip further also falls 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.

The fam trip is forecasted to increase arrival figures and bookings from the UK to the Maldives. So far this year MMPRC has held a brand awareness campaign with News UK. A digital campaign with Destination2, and joint marketing campaigns with IF ONLY and Kuoni UK are also currently ongoing for this market. There are several other marketing and advertising activities in the pipeline for this market for this year, including proposed participation in World Travel Market 2022.

The UK is one of the top source markets to the Maldives with the market growing exponentially over the years. As of April 28th, Maldives welcomed 560,996 tourists to the country this year. During this period, arrivals to Maldives from the UK reached 73,107, ranking as the top source market for this period; 13.0 percent of the total market share.

The Maldives has recently eased travel restrictions imposed on tourists which enforced presenting of negative PCR tests by all travellers. In this regard, from 4th March 2022, tourists visiting the Maldives are no longer required to present a Covid-19 PCR negative result upon arrival if the prescribed doses of vaccine are completed 14 days prior to date of arrival. As of 13th March 2022, the Maldives has also lifted the national public health emergency, imposed in response to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ease of travel restrictions and measures would make it easier for tourists to visit the Maldives.

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.