Ambitious Visit Maldives campaign launched with 365 days of free holidays
View(s):MALDIVES, Male – 365 days of free holidays for lucky visitors, an international whale shark festival and mega weddings are part of an ambitious Visit Maldives Year 2016 campaign launched last week at a UNWTO conference here. While the campaign cost is likely to be known only by August, industry officials said it would close to the US$10 million campaign the Maldives undertook in post-Tsunami 2005 to restore the islands’ resorts which were badly damaged by the December 2004 natural disaster.
That campaign is yet the biggest promotion campaign so far. The Maldives has also been designated the partner host country at the ITB Berlin in first quarter 2016, a trade fair which marks its 50th anniversary next year. The campaign has been welcomed by the industry here with officials saying it would boost the Maldives as a premier destination. The premier World Trade Awards will also be held in the Maldives as part of the Visit Maldives campaign.
Abdullah Ghiyas, President of the Maldivian Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators, said the 2016 campaign is crucial as it tackles Europe and North American source markets for which there has been little promotion in the past. Recent promotion campaigns have mostly targeted China, the country’s biggest source markets, and other emerging source markets.
Resort owners are to offer free rooms under the campaign while there would be roadshows and trade fairs. Hussain Lirar, Maldives Deputy Tourism Minister, said costing will be ready by August but pointed out that all state agencies plus the country’s Treasury is backing the campaign, financially and otherwise. “This year we are spending 70 million Rufiya (over US$4 million) on tourism promotion and events. The investment in 2016 will be much more,” he said, adding that there will be roadshows, participation at travel fairs and events for both the private sector and government agencies.
Maldives is targeting 1.4 million arrivals this year and aiming for 1.5 million next year. World Tourism Organisation (WTO) Secretary-General Dr. Taleb Rifai praised the campaign, calling the Maldives a dream destination, and invited delegates from across Asia (at the meeting) to support the campaign.
In an aside reflecting on the attraction of the Maldives, he quipped that this is an event which has seen the highest participation of spouses at an UNWTO. “My wife couldn’t come but I am joined by my daughter,” he said, a view endorsed by Indian Tourism Minister Dr. Mahesh Sharma who said his wife insisted that she join him on the trip.
The free holidays’ scheme will be offered through competitions on social media, roadshows and overseas travel fairs; surprises are in store for every 100,000 guest arrival while, Visit Maldives Year ambassadors are to be appointed among guest arrivals, 120 delegates from 18 countries attended the UNWTO conference. Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb said the country’s largest-ever delegation including a cultural troupe, will be sent to the ITB Berlin fair. In another incentive for the industry, the Maldives is now offering lease rental of uninhabited islands for 99 years from 50 years and 35 years earlier while offering duty free access to import raw materials for tourism-related construction.