Maldives is being showcased at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) which is the market leading international travel and tourism event for the Middle Eastern market. Together with Visit Maldives, 69 partners representing 37 tourism establishments from  across the various sectors of Maldives Tourism industry are showcased under the Maldives.

The Maldives is represented by an attractive stand displaying the tourism products and unique experiences in a  420 Sqm stand designed specially to represent the beauty and wonders of Maldives through colourful imagery, videography and state of the art 360 degree touchless experiences for the visitors. Furthermore, business meetings are being conducted at the designated B2B area of the Stand while information about the destination is given over the reception counters. Visit Maldives also participated at media interviews and panel discussions at the global stage during ATM.

In line with the Visit Maldives’ health and safety guidelines for in-person events to ensure health and safety of everyone and the ATM’s newn density rules, the Maldives stand is configured to accommodate restricted numbers of visitors at one given time as well as regularly sanitised surfaces. 

This year’s ATM is run as a hybrid event with the live event taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 16-19 May 2021 and a virtual event including webinars and 1-2-1 video meetings taking place a week later, from 24-26 May 2021. This is also the first major in person event for the Arabian Market presenting the opportunity for the global travel trade to meet, network, negotiate and conduct business through a series of on-stand meetings, interactive displays, seminars, panel discussions, networking sessions and more. During the 4 day event, participants will have an opportunity to showcase their products, network with various key industry stakeholders, generate new business leads as well as  engage in B2B sessions. 

The Middle Eastern market has historically been an important source market for Maldives. Since the reopening of the borders, the Middle East remains to be a key focus market. Under the key strategy of maintaining brand visibility to ensure Maldives as a top of the mind destination, continuous marketing activities are conducted targeting the Middle Eastern Market.  Coinciding with ATM, Visit Maldives will host a press conference and roadshow in Dubai on 17th May. As for completed and ongoing events targeting the Middle Eastern market, Visit Maldives recently conducted a media familiarization trip and has two ongoing marketing campaigns for the Middle Eastern region with Wego and Sky News Arabia. 

In 2020, 26,288 tourists visited Maldives from the Middle East with core markets from the region being among the leading source countries to the Maldives in terms of arrivals post the lockdown period. As a result of mass vaccination drives, easing of travel restrictions and direct flight connectivity, the goal of reaching pre-pandemic arrival numbers from the Middle East shows consistent potential. As of 12th May , Maldives has welcomed a total of 418,579 visitors and among that 7,729 arrivals were recorded from the Middle East market.

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.

The administration of the Covid-19 vaccine was initiated on 1st February 2021 with the government of Maldives set to provide free COVID-19 vaccines to all citizens and residents of the country in the upcoming months. 

Visit Maldives together with the Ministry of Tourism launches "I'm Vaccinated" campaign in order to share a positive message regarding the vaccination of staff working in the tourism sector as well as promoting the initiatives undertaken to ensure the Maldives remains one of the safest destinations in the world for travelers. The ultimate target is to make Maldives the destination with the first fully vaccinated tourism sector in the world.