Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC / Visit Maldives) took part in International Media Marketplace (IMM Australia) 2023 to promote the Sunny Side of Life in the Australian market. The event was held from 23rd - 24th February at Sydney, Australia. The event provided a great opportunity to meet with top journalists and media publications from the Oceanic market to promote our upcoming events such as the Visit Maldives Storytellers’ Conference 2023, gain opportunities to strengthen destination presence, and acquire greater insight into the overall Oceanic market.

MMPRC attended the exclusive TravMedia summit on the first day. The summit hosted panel discussions on exciting topics such as broadcast media and inclusive tourism, followed by networking sessions with over 150 A-list media in the Oceanic region, keynote speeches, and panel discussions on topics such as the role of DMO’s in 2023 and public relations. Some of the media that took part in the fair include BBC Travel, Conde Nast Traveler, Vogue Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, etc. During the second day, MMPRC conducted 22 pre-scheduled meetings at a dedicated Maldives’ table.

The main purpose of participating in this event was to promote Maldives as a preferred holiday destination for travellers and to update the Australian media with the latest information and travel guidelines from the destination. The participation in IMM is in line with our strategy to maintain the destination presence in this market and to efficiently promote various segments of tourism to media professionals. This strategy aims to assist the destination to increase future bookings and arrival figures from Australia and New Zealand.

As of 20th February 2023, Maldives have welcomed 4,125 tourists from Australia. MMPRC also took part in IMM Australia last year and conducted several campaigns for the market last year including campaigns with TravMedia membership, Stab Magazine, etc. While a campaign is ongoing with Robb Report for this year, several exciting activities are planned for the rest of the year.

In 2022, MMPRC conducted 178 marketing activities. This included over 90 marketing campaigns, attending 44 fairs, hosting 06 roadshows, 10 virtual events, 18 familiarisation trips, and 10 other events executed worldwide. The national tourist arrivals target set by H.E President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih for the year 2022 was also reached in December 2022, as the Maldives welcomed our 1.6 millionth visitor for the year two weeks ahead of the end of the year. In addition to this, the Maldives secured the title of the ‘World’s Leading Destination’ for the third year in a row in 2022 at World Travel Awards. MMPRC was also awarded the prestigious title of 'World's Leading Tourist Board' for the first time in our nation's history in 2022.