Visit Maldives kicks off a joint marketing campaign with Air Astana, the flag carrier of Kazakhstan, to promote Maldives as one the most safest and most preferred holiday destinations for Kazkh travelers. The main aim of this joint campaign is to maintain the momentum of the arrivals from the market.

The campaign with Air Astana includes components targeting both B2B and B2C segments. The marketing activities consist of familiarization trips, webinars targeting travel agencies and consumer advertising campaigns such as digital campaigns, ambient outdoor campaigns and radio advertisements. The activities planned in this campaign will aid in maintaining the destination presence in the Kazakh market.

The first activity of the campaign kicked off on 21st April 2021 with the arrival of the first group of travel agents for a familiarization trip. During their week-long stay, the travel agents will explore the various offerings provided in Kanuhura Maldives and Six Senses Laamu. Afterwards, a second group of travel agents are set to arrive on 26th April 2021, hosted by Adaaran Select Meedhupparu Resort, Velassaru Maldives and Dhigali Maldives.

Air Astana commenced the first direct flight to Maldives on 5th December 2020. This was a stepping stone towards establishing a connection between the two destinations and working towards improving flight connectivity between Maldives and the rest of the world. Last year, a webinar was conducted in collaboration with Air Astana to commemorate the start of the direct flights from Almaty. Over 150 travel agents from Kazakhstan joined this webinar which was conducted in December 2020. The latest information about the destination and the arrival and departure procedures in the new normal were highlighted during this session.

The start of direct flights to Maldives by Air Astana were reflected in the arrival statistics, with the Kazakhstan market landing a spot in the top 5 in terms of arrivals to the Maldives, for the first time. As of 14th April 2021, a total of 345,261 travelers have arrived in the Maldives of which 14,567 travelers are from the Kazakhstan market.

Visit Maldives is conducting several campaigns targeting the Russia and CIS region. As such a media familiarisation trip has been conducted from Russia and Kazakhstan in February 2021, inviting some of the top media from these markets to experience the destination.

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 who have not received the final dose of the vaccine at least 14 days prior to arrival 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. Travelers who have received the final dose of the vaccine 14 days prior to arrival in Maldives will be able to enter the destination without a negative PCR test.