Travel Trade Maldives (TTM), the first ever international travel trade show of Maldives, kicked off Wednesday with much excitement from exhibitors and visitors alike.
Being held at the National Art Gallery in capital Male from Wednesday to Thursday, TTM connects Maldivian tourism industry stakeholders with a global network of travel agents.
Adaaran Resorts, Universal Resorts, Crown and Champa Resorts, Bandos Maldives, and Villa Hotels and Resorts are premium exhibitors, while a total of over 100 resorts and hotels are exhibiting their products at TTM.
More than 100 professionals representing travel agents, tour operators, industry experts and travel media have earlier confirmed their attendance. Meanwhile, the show is expected to witness more than 3,000 prescheduled meetings discussing business worth over USD 1 billion.
As a major component of TTM, a hotelier summit was held at the main convention centre of Dharubaaruge in Male from 9am to 1pm on Wednesday. Tourism industry pioneer Mohamed Umar Maniku delivered the keynote address, while motivational speaker Paul McNeive also addressed the summit.
In addition to the hotelier summit, which was sponsored by Bank of Maldives (BML), a tourism career fair is being held as part of TTM, providing job seekers, students, employers, training institutions and government agencies an opportunity to network. The career fair is exhibited by resorts, liveaboards, leading hotel chains and service providers in the tourism industry.
Meanwhile, TTM gala night, to be held at Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi resort on Thursday, will host Maldives Travel Awards – People’s Edition, which recognises 10 outstanding individuals from the hospitality industry.
Maldives recorded 1.2 million tourist arrivals in 2016 with a total of receipts around USD 2.5 billion. With the rapid changes in global travel markets, Maldives continues to strengthen its foothold as one of the leading tourist destinations in the world. While tourism still remains the leading economic industry in the country by far, innovative new approaches in marketing are required to ensure the sector remains at the top.
TTM aims to facilitate the tourism industry of Maldives to reach the ultimate target of two million tourists with over USD 3.5 billion in receipts by the end of 2020.