Maldives has won ‘Best Sea Destination’ at the Italia Travel Awards 2017.

The annual Italia Travel Awards 2017 was held at the Roman Aquarium, in Rome, Italy on May 11.

Maldives beat Seychelles and Polynesia to win the ‘Best Sea Destination’ at this year’s awards ceremony.

The award was accepted by Permanent Representative of Maldives to UN Offices in Geneva and Ambassador of Maldives to Swiss General Council, Hala Hameed.

According to Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation, Italia Travel Awards “is held to celebrate commitment and expertise in the Italian tourism sector”, and is considered the 'Oscars of the travel industry' in Italy.

“The main objective of the award is to encourage and boost professionalism and quality of the tourism industry”, it said.

MMPRC said that the Italian market “is one of the source markets for the Maldivian tourism industry”, adding that 71, 202 tourist arrivals were recorded from Italy in 2016, an 8.5 percent increase compared to 2015.