Visit Maldives has welcomed a renowned freelance journalist, Lisa Kjellsson, from the United Kingdom to promote the Maldives to the UK market. This is the second of many planned familiarization trips conducted this year and the first trip carried out for the UK market.

The purpose of this FAM trip is to promote the islands as one of the safest destinations to travel to during the current situation and showcase the unique experiences in the Maldives with a specific focus on safety, luxury and eco-initiatives. This trip will also highlight the stringent safety measures undertaken in the Maldives in relation to COVID-19 to ensure the Maldives remains a safe haven for British traveler’s due to the unique geographical formation of the islands.

Lisa who arrived in Maldives on 2 Feb, contributes to high profile travel and lifestyle publications such as Sleeper, Tatler, West London Living, Citizen Femme and Robb Report, targeting an affluent audience in the UK. The published features will generate huge coverage highlighting the Maldives as a safe destination alongside aspects that are unique to the host properties. The combined coverage generated from this FAM trip is expected to reach nearly a million readers. Furthermore, the articles generated in this trip will aid in strengthening Maldives brand in the market to sustain as a top-of-mind destination.

During the two week long trip, Lisa will be hosted by Kuramathi Island Resort, The Nautilus Maldives, Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru, Hurawalhi Maldives, Kagi Maldives Spa Island and Six Senses Laamu, where she will experience spa and wellness activities, sustainable initiatives including coral regeneration and other marine conservation efforts, snorkelling and other watersports, tasting signature cuisines and other experiences unique to the respective properties, such as underwater dining.

The UK market has been a potentially important market in terms of arrivals to the Maldives. In this regard, Visit Maldives focuses on innovative strategies and ultimate objectives, adopted to ensure the goals of achieving pre pandemic arrival numbers in this year. Several marketing activities have already been planned for 2021 including joint promotions with notable tour operators and prominent airlines, participation in key travel trade fairs and roadshows covering the UK & Ireland region. Furthermore, 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, 52,520 tourists visited the Maldives from the UK. Though this is -58.2% drop compared to 2019, the UK was ranked as the third highest arrival market despite an ongoing pandemic and travel restrictions. 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 achieved the remarkable milestone of receiving 500,000 tourists amidst an ongoing pandemic in 2020, the goal of reaching pre-pandemic arrival numbers from the UK shows consistent potential.