The Maldives has welcomed Benjamin Duncan Moore, the first tourist of 2024. Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC/ Visit Maldives) held a special celebratory event at Velena International Airport this morning to mark the momentous occasion. British native Benjamin arrived this morning on flight EY278 from Abu Dhabi. This is his first trip to the Maldives and he is here for a leisure holiday at Villa Nautica. 

He was greeted at the airport by officials from the Ministry of Tourism and Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC/ Visit Maldives), along with representatives from Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), Maldives Immigration, Dhivehi Raajjeyge Gulhun Public Limited (Dhiraagu) and Crossroads Maldives. The Minister of Tourism, Honourable Ibrahim Faisal was joined by the Deputy Managing Director of MMPRC, Mr. Mohamed Bassam Adam, along with the Deputy Chief Officer, AOCC & Customer Relations of MACL, Mr Ibrahim Hareef and the Deputy Head of Airport Division, Deputy Chief Immigration Officer, Mr Ali Sunan. The Director Brand and Marketing Communications from Dhiraagu, Mr. Mohamed Mirshan Hassan and the General Manager of Crossroads Maldives, Mr. Alexander Traeger, also joined the event celebrating this momentous occasion. 

The first tourist received a complimentary holiday from Crossroads Maldives with a stay in SAii Lagoon Maldives and in Hard Rock Hotel Maldives. Other special gifts were also conferred to the first tourist of 2024, including gifts from the Ministry of Tourism, MMPRC, MACL, Maldives Immigration and Dhiraagu.

MMPRC conducted 402 marketing campaigns last year, including fairs, roadshows, familiarisation trips, marketing campaigns, webinars, and interviews with a combined reach of 46,791,558,024. Late last year, the Maldives secured the title of WTA’s ‘World’s Leading Destination’ for the fourth year in a row. In addition to securing The World’s Leading Destination 2023 title, MMPRC was honoured as the World’s Leading Tourist Board 2023, marking the second consecutive year winning this prestigious title. The Maldives also received the newly-introduced Global Tourism Resilience Award at this event, given to the 5 leading destinations and countries for strategically building capacity to recover swiftly and thrive after disruptions. Throughout the past year the Maldives has also won multiple other awards while resorts, properties, tour operators, and travel agencies also won individual awards in the global tourism arena. 

In 2024, our marketing activities and strategies aim to propel the Maldives tourism industry forward even further with novel approaches grounded in research-based methodologies. We are strategizing to leverage data-driven insights for more efficient marketing of the Maldives as a holiday destination. Through collaborative efforts with the industry stakeholders, NGOs, local councils, and associations, we aim to foster a collective vision for sustainable tourism growth. We will also amplify our outreach by strengthening the social media presence and conducting more strategic marketing campaigns.