Visit Maldives will take part in the Big Ocean Show 2021 to position Maldives as a top-of-mind destination for watersports and diving enthusiasts as well as to strengthen Maldives’ brand presence.

Held in Moscow from 2-5 September 2021, Visit Maldives, selected as the official partner country of the exhibition, will showcase Maldives at a prominent beautifully-designed 55 sqm stand and conduct B2B meetings with major stakeholders from Water Sports/Recreation and travel trade businesses.

The Big Ocean Show is a grand celebration of water sports, active leisure facilities and ocean conservation projects. Maldives, a leading destination in diving and watersports, will play a central role in the expansive program of conferences and round tables held at the prestigious event.

In addition, Visit Maldives will have the unique opportunity to engage with a massive targeted audience of future and current water sports/ recreation enthusiasts and professionals. Maldivian tourism products (resorts, guesthouses, liveaboards, hotels) and uniquely-Maldivian experiences will be promoted throughout the event. An emphasis will be placed on promoting Maldives as a leading destination for watersports and diving, highlighting the unique dive spots and the immense variety of biodiversity.

Several initiatives have been conducted and are underway to market the destination in the Russian market. So far this year, Visit Maldives took part in prominent fairs such as MITT 2021, Moscow Dive Show, Luxury Travel Mart (LTM) Moscow and held engaging roadshows across the country.

Furthermore, Visit Maldives has conducted a popular exhibition with National Geographic in Moscow showcasing the beauty and allure of the Maldives, and held a campaign with Expedia positioning Maldives as the top destination in the Russian and global market. Ongoing activities include a social media marketing campaign, training webinars with ATOR, Moya Planeta TV show broadcasts, and Co-op with TEZ tour.

As of 18th August 2021, Russia is the largest source market to Maldives this year, with an impressive arrival figure of 154,380 travelers. With direct flight connectivity between Russia and Maldives through Aeroflot and ease of travel guidelines to Maldives, the Russian market plays a significant role in achieving pre-pandemic arrival figures. Maldives have welcomed a total of 700,594 travelers so far in 2021.

In order to maintain the momentum and further increase the arrival figure, Visit Maldives has planned informative webinars for the travel trade community, a media familiarization trip from Ukraine, and will take part in Ukraine International Travel Market.