Maldives continues to ride the wave of growth with increasing number of Indian tourists each year. The island nation witnessed a tremendous growth of 96.4 per cent in tourist arrivals from India from January to May 2019 in comparison to the same period last year. Maldives hosted around 66,265 travellers from Asia’s third largest economy till May of 2019.
Maldives, which is home to numerous beaches, coral reefs and nature reserves, has become increasingly popular among Indians with free tourist visa facility and good connectivity from most of the cities in India, including Delhi and Mumbai.
Thoyyib Mohamed, Managing Director, Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation (MMPRC) said, “We are happy to witness the tremendous increase in arrivals from India this year. India is an extremely important market to us, showing potential for further growth as increased direct connections have made it easily accessible to travel to Maldives. We are working closely with the industry partners to promote Maldives as the ideal holiday destination among luxury travellers, while also promoting other segments such as local island tourism and liveaboards. We hope that our continued efforts to promote the destination will result in keeping a steady growth in arrivals from the market.”
Indian market holds 3rd place in terms of arrivals to the Maldives with a market share of 8.8 per cent till May 2019. Moreover, as India ranks within the top five, with great accessibility to the Maldives, Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation (MMPRC) plans to further strengthen the market with additional activities throughout the year.
MMPRC is entering into partnerships with key tour operators and online tour agencies in India. Apart from this, it is looking forward to collaborate with Indian celebrities which are followed by a large number of travel takers in India. MMPRC is also working closely with the Indian travel trade, media and influencers to showcase various facets of Maldivian touristic offerings with aim to promote the destination to consumers directly.
MMPRC recently conducted “Journey to the Sunny Side” roadshow in India with promising success. The event took place in five cities – Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi and Chandigarh – over five days with a travel and tour operator turnout of over 100 in each city.
