Travel Trade Maldives (TTM) 2018 has attracted more than 200 visitors as the largest travel trade show in the country concluded its first day of business on Tuesday.
The first batch of pre-scheduled meetings took place from 2-6pm at the main convention centre of Dharubaaruge in capital Male. More than 100 hotels and resorts, including Adaaran Resorts Maldives, Villa Hotels and Resorts, Bandos Maldives, Angiri Resorts, and Crown and Champa Resorts, exhibited at the fair.
This year, the pre-scheduled meetings are being held for three days.
“Both exhibitors and visitors alike were very pleased with the outcome, considering today was the first day of TTM 2018,” organiser Maldives Getaways said in a statement.
Dharubaaruge was packed throughout the four hours of pre-scheduled meetings on Tuesday, as TTM gave participants a platform to meet and interact with world-renowned travel agents and tour operates. This allowed them to grow their businesses within one of the most lucrative and leading travel destinations in the world.
“Many travel agents were newcomers to the Maldives and were very pleased to have had the opportunity to visit the island destination and have had the opportunity to meet with the leading hoteliers in the industry in one setting,” the statement read.
TTM 2018 kicked off Monday with a summit dedicated to tackle the most pressing issues in the world-renowned holiday destination.
The annual gala of TTM will take place on Wednesday evening at Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi resort.
As part of TTM 2018, the first ever Maldives Supplier Expo will be held from Friday to Saturday. More than 50 suppliers will have one-on-one prescheduled meetings with officials from procurement, accounts, finance, and F&B departments of more than 100 resorts.
TTM, which was launched last year by local PR firm Maldives Getaways, aims to facilitate the tourism industry of Maldives to reach the ultimate target of two million tourists per year with over USD 3.5 billion in receipts by the end of 2020.