Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation recently organised a roadshow in Mumbai, part of a four-city tour to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. The delegation comprised of hotels and resorts, DMCs, tour operators and a sea plane service provider, along with the event’s partner airline Air India. Leading the delegation was Hussain Lirar, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Maldives.
In a bid to increase footfall to the destination, Maldives plans to add integrated resorts to their offerings, with one such development planned for each Atoll in the Maldives. The first one is slated to open in Thumburi in 2017. The project is backed by the President of Maldives. “Altogether there are 20 Atolls in the Maldives, and each will have one integrated resort. The pilot project will cater to the mid market segment as we believe we have plenty of luxury resorts already,” Lirar informed.
In their presentation, the team highlighted Maldives’ underwater restaurants, spa and night club, terming the one island one resort concept as their USP. China was revealed as the destination’s top market, with India ranking fourth in the list.
Speaking about the India market, Lirar said that India is a very important source market for Maldives, but he believes that the footfall from here is not enough in spite of the proximity. “Our main aim for this visit to India is to meet the travel trade and understand what is deterring Indians from visiting Maldives. We received 45,000 Indians in 2014, which is double the number we saw in 2010. So we have notched a year on year growth. But we want these numbers to increase,” he said.
He termed 2014 a successful year for Maldives, revealing that the destination received 1.2 million visitors from around the world. In 2015, the destination aims to receive 1.4 million travellers, and hopes that India would be a significant contributor to these numbers. Their aim for Indian arrivals in 2015 is 60,000.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Lirar stated that the destination hopes to meet with Indian agents on this visit and plan their roadmap for the year in terms of marketing and promotional activities. The main targets for Maldives remain the metro cities, with Delhi and Mumbai being their strongest source markets.
“We have planned advertising in cinema halls with ad films to be screened before movies, and also look forward to welcoming Bollywood to shoot in Maldives to increase visibility. We have aid available for them if needed. Our partner in India, Think Strawberries, will also arrange FAMs. We will see the outcome of this set of roadshows and even visit India more often if need be,” Lirar concluded.
