The Maldives is featured in the latest episode of Quest’s World of Wonder, as CNN anchor and correspondent Richard Quest arrives in Maldives to explore the secrets of the island paradise. The 30-min special episode will help promote Maldives as a ‘safe haven’ destination and showcase the variety of  unique experiences available in the Maldives while shedding light on key figures of the Maldivian tourism industry. Visit Maldives supported Richard Quest and the crew of ‘Quests World of Wonder’ during their filming in Maldives.  

Quest’s World of Wonder is a popular TV show premiering on  CNN international where news anchor Richard Quest travels to landmark locations around the world, explores popular tourist destinations and meets with influential locals in order to provide an insight into the region’s heritage and culture. 

The episode begins in Maldives with Richard Quest arriving at Kurumba, the very first resort opened in the Maldives. At Kurumba, he will meet with founder Mohamed Umar Maniku and discuss his vision for the resort nearly 50 years ago and the challenges he faced while creating what would become a defining identity in Maldives.  

Afterwards, Quest meets with the former president of the Maldives and current speaker of parliament Mohamed Nasheed who made headlines throughout the world during his presidency for his environmental protection policies and awareness.

Quest will then board a sea plane and fly over the turquoise waters of the Maldivian island arriving in the remote island resort of Reethi Beach where he will embark on a fishing expedition with the resort manager Denise Schmidt and her husband Ali Amir. The adventure concludes with Quest meeting “the Godfather of Maldivian diving”, Hussain Rasheed, the first PADI course director in the country. Rasheed will take Quest snorkelling while sharing his belief that only through a snorkelling mask can one truly begin to appreciate the beauty of marine life and how it ties to the DNA of the Maldives. 

Additionally, Visit Maldives carried out a promotional campaign with CNN in 2020. During this campaign, Destination was promoted via “5 reasons to Insta love Maldives” vignette and a video showcasing the luxury offerings of the destination, followed by the launch of “30 seconds of calm Maldives”, which showcased the serenity of the destination. Prominently, the destination has been featured on the CNN weather watch which substantially reaches a large audience across the globe. The main objective of this campaign is to promote Maldives as a “safe haven” and highlighting the importance of protecting the delicate environment of the country.

For this year on the global platform, Visit Maldives has currently been carrying out joint campaigns with Expedia and TripAdvisor. Visit Maldives together with the Ministry of Tourism has also recently launched the "I'm Vaccinated" campaign in order to share a positive message regarding the vaccination of staff working in the tourism sector as well as promoting the initiatives undertaken to ensure the Maldives remains one of the safest destinations in the world  for travelers. 

Maldives has welcomed a total of 298,570 travelers by March 2021. India, Russia and Ukraine are currently the top three top source markets. The steady increase in the arrival figure indicates a healthy recovery of the tourism industry and the Maldives is on-track to achieve pre-pandemic arrival figures.