Maldives Promotion House – The Maldives has been awarded as the “Best Dreaming Area” and has won as the 2^nd “Best Diving Area” in the Dive & Travel Awards 2012 held during the Marine Diving Fair, Tokyo, Japan from 06^th to 08^th April 2012. The voting was carried out amongst the readers of the both magazines targeted to the divers; “Travel Diver” and “Marine Diving” , based on the “Reader’s Choice Award”

The Dive & Travel Awards are chosen by the readers of the two most popular diving magazines in Japan, “Travel Diver” and “Marine Diving,” published by the Marine Art Centre of Japan.

The awards were collected by the Maldives High Commissioner to Japan, Hon. Mr. Ahmed Khaleel. Ambassador Khaleel also participated in the opening ceremony of the Fair and was the chief guest at the opening ceremony of the Marine Diving Fair. In his speech he noted the issue of the global warming and its impact to the Maldives and spoke of the threats faced by coral reefs all around the world due to climate change.

He also expressed that Maldives is one of the sought-after tourism destinations noting that one of the popular attraction is diving & it remains popular destination among the diving community and tourists who visit. With regards to protection of coral reefs, he also noted that coral reefs is not only the back bone of the economy but it is also the natural protection barrier for the tiny islands of Maldives and hence the importance of protecting and preservation of the coral reef has become a national priority and Maldives is taking considerable steps to protect the underwater.

Marine Dive Fair remains as the largest annual scuba diving and beach resort fair held in Japan targeted to the consumers and trade in Japan and Asia creating an opportunity to decide and arrange their dive holidays. The fair is exhibited by more than 200 exhibitors from companies across the world.

Over 200 companies and tourism organizations participated in the Fair in 2011, attracting over 51,800 visitors during the three days. Visitors are expected to exceed 53,000 this year. The Fair is not only aimed for scuba dive operators, but also resorts, as there is a larger consumer audience there to source information about a resort holiday destination.

Together with MMPRC, Capital Travel and Tours, Bandos Island Resort & Spa, Adaaran Resorts, Sun diving School; LUX island resorts and Cox and Kings participated in the fair. Maldives has experienced a reduction in Japanese market over the last year. The Japanese market has seen a reduction of 7.8 percent in 2011 receiving a total arrival of 35,782 Japanese, with a market share of 3.8 percent of from the north East Asia region.

Activities have been planned out for the rest of the year including participating in the JATA Fair 2012 on 20^th to 23^rd September, and also a road show to be held in four cities of Japan.