Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) on Tuesday announced a partnership with MyBump Media to promote Maldives tourism in Malaysia.
At a ceremony held at the headquarters of Public Service Media (PSM) in Maldives capital Male, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of MyBump Dhanish Athif and MATATO Vice President Abdulla Suood signed the destination marketing partnership agreement.
Dhanish told journalists that MyBump’s marketing expertise will be used to promote Maldives tourism in Malaysia. Targeted social media campaigns will also be carried out for the Malaysian market, he said.
MyBump is Malaysia’s premier outdoor and digital crowd advertising platform. It integrates outdoor media and social media endorsements by the brand’s own ambassadors – genuine consumers speaking for the brand matched using demographic, geolocation, social media presence and consumer behaviour information.
Malaysia is a fast growing source market for Maldives tourism.
Official figures show that 19,092 Malaysian tourists visited the Maldives in 2017 — an 18 percent increase over the 16,185 in 2016. That growth is set to continue this year, as arrivals from Malaysia recorded a 20.2 percent increase in the first five months of the year to reach 9,085 from 7,556 in the same period of last year.
The growth in the Malaysian market is boosted by AirAsia’s direct flight operations to the Maldives.
AirAsia currently operates daily flights connecting Kuala Lumpur and Male, utilising its fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft with 180 and 186 seat capacity. Separately, its long-haul affiliate AirAsia X services the same route four days a week using Airbus A330-300 aircraft with 377-seat capacity, including 12 Premium Flatbed seats.
Photo: PSM