Visit Maldives has welcomed a media team to promote Maldives in the Middle East region. This is the first of many familiarization trips planned for the year 2021.

The purpose of this FAM trip is to promote the destination and showcase the unique experiences in Maldives with a specific focus on family, safety and affordability. It also aims to highlight the stringent safety measures undertaken in the Maldives in relation to COVID-19 and to ensure Maldives is a safe haven for Middle Eastern travellers.

The Media team arrived today from leading publications in the Middle East, including Savoir Flair, The National, Millennium Millionaire & Fact Abu Dhabi. These publications will promote the Maldives through both print and online mediums, alongside supporting coverage on social media platforms. The combined coverage generated from this FAM trip would be circulated physically more than 95,000 times, with an online reach of more than 3.7 million. 

The media team is hosted by both Grand Park Kodhipparu and Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort and Spa for six days in the Maldives, where they will experience activities like family activities, wellness activities, sustainable initiatives implemented by the properties, tasting signature cuisines, snorkelling, water sports and other such unique experiences.

For the Middle Eastern market, 2021 focuses on innovative strategies and ultimate objectives, adopted to ensure the goals of achieving pre-pandemic arrival numbers. In this regard, several marketing activities have already been scheduled, including but not limited to joint promotions with notable tour operators and prominent airlines, participation in key travel trade fairs in the Middle East and roadshows covering the GCC & KSA region. Additionally, Arabic-language focused digital, social media and virtual activities are in the pipeline, aiming to maintain the destination presence and promote Maldives as the most preferred destination within the market.

In 2020, 26,288 tourists visited the Maldives from the Middle Eastern market, which represents a considerable drop from 2019’s value of 60,003 due to the COVID-19 restrictions. However, core markets from the region were among the leading arrivals to the Maldives post the lockdown period and continue to grow stronger day-by-day. As the Maldives achieves the remarkable milestone of receiving 500,000 tourists amidst an ongoing pandemic, the goal of reaching pre-pandemic arrival numbers from the Middle East shows consistent potential.