In the efforts to maintain destination presence and promote the Maldives in the Russian market, Visit Maldives invited a renowned photographer representing National Geographic Russia to showcase the destination through a physical photo exhibition to be held in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia during the summer.

The exhibition will promote the Maldives as a safe haven for travelers and highlight the unique geographical formation of Maldives along with a variety of activities and cultural elements through the lens of photographer Ivan Dementievsky.. The photographer will travel within the Maldives from 18th March until 29th March 2021.

Diamonds Athuruga Beach and Water Villas, W Maldives, Plumeria Maldives, White Lagoon Fehendhoo and the liveaboard Scuba Spa will host the photographer during their 2 week stay in the Maldives. The photographer will have the opportunity to experience and capture several experiences offered in the Maldives such as sunset cruises in a traditional dhoani, swimming with dolphins, shipwreck visits, water sports activities, and etc. In addition, the photographer will experience exciting and unique cultural activities specific to Maldives. This includes cooking traditional Maldivian meals, big game fishing, local island experiences, and traditional activities such as Boduberu and Dhandi Jehun are some of the many activities that photographers will experience during their stay in Maldives.

During the trip, the photographer will capture 50 photos in total of which 32 photos will be used for the exhibition in Moscow, while 16 out of the 32 photos will be used in the exhibition in St. Petersburg. The remaining photos will be used to promote the exhibition prior to the beginning of the exhibition. National Geographic will also feature 26 images on the website as a virtual exhibition.

Visit Maldives aims to promote and highlight the culture, traditions, heritage and the local island experience of Maldives. Several initiatives are underway to market the destination in Russia. In this regard, high impact campaigns on both offline and online platforms are in the pipeline for the market with several more collaborations with media and key stakeholders in the market.

Furthermore, high impact campaigns such as media familiarization trips have been conducted earlier this year, with more planned for the upcoming months. In addition, Visit Maldives is conducting a global campaign targeting Russia in collaboration with Expedia. The collaboration with Expedia is one of the many impactful global campaigns planned for the year. Visit Maldives is currently carrying an educational and training programme targeted to the Russian travel trade with Association of Tour Operators in Russia (ATOR).

Russia is the second largest source market to the Maldives as of now welcoming over 84,289 arrivals since reopening. It is estimated that the marketing campaigns and activities undertaken in Russia will increase the total amount of Russian travelers arriving in the Maldives in the upcoming months.

Maldives reopened its borders for tourists of all nationalities on 15th July 2020, with rigorous procedures in place to ensure the safety of tourists and tourism workers. Tourists are required to fill an online health declaration form within 24 hours prior to their departure, as well as have a negative PCR test result, conducted 96 hours prior to their departure.