Media professionals from leading media outlets of India are in the Maldives on a familiarization trip, at an invitation by Maldives Marketing and Public Relation Corporations (MMPRC).
MMPRC discloses that the team will be staying in the Maldives from June 13 to 19.
According to MMPRC the team consists of professionals from media outlets such as; Times of India, Financial Express, BW Business World, NDTV Food, and Travel Dine.
The team is hosted at Kuramathi Maldives, The Residence Maldives and Noku Maldives where they are experiencing the world-renowned Maldivian hospitality, unique experiences, and different cuisines at their host properties.
Sharing that the theme of the familiarization trip is gastronomy, MMPRC stated that the team is experiencing the unique cuisines of the Maldives during the trip.
MMPRC highlights that the team will publish articles about the destination and the host resorts in their respective magazines and publications, which has extensive reach among travelers from India.
Officials from MMPRC visited Kuramathi and met with the team, holding discussions about ways to broaden efforts to further promote the destination in the Indian market. MMPRC representatives also shared a destination presentation with the members of the visiting team, giving the latest updates on travel guidelines to the Maldives, and interesting unique experiences available here.
MMPRC states that the purpose of this familiarization trip is to promote the destination amongst potential travelers from India. As such, the trip is expected to generate huge coverage highlighting the unique geographical advantage of scattered islands of Maldives, and the one-island-one-resort concept which makes Maldives one of the safest holiday destinations in the world.
MMPRC states that the trip will also help promote the unique experiences and individual tourism products of the Maldives (resorts, guesthouses, liveaboards, and hotels).
The corporation highlights that the trip is organized as part of their marketing strategy for the India market, aiming to provide the latest information about the travel guidelines to potential travelers from the region.
Arrival figures and bookings from India to the Maldives is expected to increase as a result of the familiarization trip.
So far this year MMPRC has held a destination e-learning campaign with 2HUB, influencer familiarization trips and celebrity familiarization trips. There are two digital campaigns ongoing, with Thomas Cook and PickyourTrail. In addition to this MMPRC participated in OTM and SATTE this year focusing on the India Market.
As of 8th June 2022, India is the leading source market for the Maldives with over 104,800 tourists visiting the destination from this market. India contributed 14.3 percent to the market share from the total 732,884 arrivals recorded to the Maldives during this period. India was also the largest market in 2021 with over 278,740 travelers and a market share of 22.6 percent. Similarly, India was the largest market in 2020 with an arrival figure of 62,960 and a market share of 11.3 percent.
As the company responsible for marketing the Maldives as a destination abroad, MMPRC carried out 260 different marketing activities in 22 global markets last year. These include fairs, roadshows, familiarization trips, marketing campaigns, webinars, and interviews.
MMPRC highlights Maldives securing the title of ‘World’s Leading Destination’ (among several other accolades) at the 2021 World Travel Awards, as the greatest testament to the success of these activities. World Travel Awards is 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 travelers from all over the world.
