Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC / Visit Maldives) successfully concluded the Tourism Marketeers Evening 2022, hosted to collect feedback, ideas, and opinions from the tourism industry stakeholders for the destination marketing strategies for the Maldives for the year 2023.

The event was held on 28th September, Wednesday, at Meeruma. A total of 41 tourism professionals took part in the event from a diverse range of travel trade vocations including; Managing Directors; General Managers; Sales and Marketing Managers; and other relevant tourism professionals.

Stakeholder input has always been a key component of MMPRC’s strategic planning process. Continuing MMPRC’s annual Tourism Marketeers Evening, following a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is one of several activities conducted throughout the year to gather industry ideas and feedback.

MMPRC works closely with the tourism industry and partners to direct a collaborative effort to best develop and market the destination brand. The primary objective behind hosting this event was to gather expert opinions from tourism industry professionals regarding marketing the Maldives as the most preferred destination.

Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of MMPRC, Thoyyib Mohamed stated, “MMPRC has always prioritised working in collaboration with the industry when we craft the strategies that promote the Maldives as a destination. The ideas, feedback, and even criticism we get from our industry partners are crucial to constantly keep improving our brand. I am extremely grateful to all the attendants for the tremendous support we received for this year’s Tourism Marketeers Evening.” 

Together with the industry, MMPRC officials brainstormed ideas in order to align and formulate promotional activities and marketing strategies. The event included sharing ideas on innovative destination marketing and discussions on delivering similar destination messages from the entire Maldivian travel trade rather than fragmented messages. Sessions such as this help MMPRC and the industry to build a cohesive, strong, and alluring ‘Maldives’ brand. The brainstorming sessions and feedback will also help MMPRC to work even closer together with industry partners in the years to come.

The Tourism Marketeers Evening saw discussions on marketing activities such as fairs, roadshows, and familiarisation trips, as well as exchanging ideas on markets, segments, social media and promotional materials. One of the most exciting discussions, under the theme of “Working together through challenges”, was on addressing uncertain situations that arise within the industry due to external factors, geopolitical circumstances, and averting and dealing with such crises as one. Tourism industry representatives also shared their ideas, opinions, and suggestions for MMPRC’s destination marketing plan for the upcoming year.

“This is my first time at MMPRC’s Marketeers event, and I think we had some very nice ideas shared by our industry colleagues here. I think it would have been better if we had more time, maybe this could be a longer event? People have a lot to share and discuss when they are together, but we are not able to come together in one place like this very often, especially industry experts. Overall I think it was a great event,” Fathimath Reena, Business Development Director of Oaga Resorts, said.

“The event is very good, it’s great to meet the MMPRC team and share our ideas with the industry stakeholders. Having people from the different areas of the industry coming together was very good. I would love to see more events in a casual environment from MMPRC, for brainstorming and networking,” Ali Ameen, Managing Director of Travel Beach Maldives, said.

“This was a very nice event. Lovely. It was so nice to meet everyone in person, all the helpful people from MMPRC, because you guys are so collaborative and we always talk over emails so it’s great to meet everyone who is in touch with us. It was great to meet different members of the event who have different ideas and perspectives. Thank you so much,” Anastasiya Babenko, Marketing and PR Manager of LUX* South Ari Atoll, said.

The marketing efforts by MMPRC carried throughout the year is in part – a coordinated effort by all industry partners in the Maldives. By the end of August 2022, MMPRC has marketed the Maldives at; 32 fairs; 3 roadshows in 7 cities; 16 FAM Trips; 6 virtual events 12 joint promotions and 12 social media campaigns.

Additionally, 63 other marketing campaigns had been conducted to great success. MMPRC also engages PR agencies to implement PR and Trade Strategies in 15 key markets around the world.

The efforts of MMPRC and the Maldives tourism industry have yielded several awards and accolades over the past years. The most notable of these were in 2020 and 2021, as the Maldives secured the title of ‘World’s Leading Destination’ for two consecutive years.