Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) together with tourism industry representatives have taken part in Tourism EXPO Japan.
The Maldives delegation, which consists of 11 industry partners, is headed by the Maldives ambassador in Japan Ibrahim Uwaish. Together with MMPRC, embassy officials are representing the destination at the fair, being held in Tokyo from September 20-23.
Business meetings with industry stakeholders are planned at the Maldives stand in order to identify strategies to further improve the market performance.
To attract more visitors to the stand, several activities are being carried with contribution and assistance from the Maldives embassy in Japan. One such activity is a bingo game, where the winner will be given a free holiday package to the Maldives sponsored by Crown & Champa Resorts.
Visitors also have the opportunity to experience the underwater beauty of the Maldives through VR gears.
Launched as a comprehensive travel and tourism trade event in 2014, Tourism EXPO Japan is the largest travel trade event in Japan, and comes as the world’s greatest celebration of people’s freedom to cross borders and love of travel.
This year, the expo comes with a multitude of destinations, experiences and stage performances, which present the charms of more than 130 countries and regions. For everybody who loves traveling, the event offers travel information and a taste of new places by engaging all five senses with music, dance performances, ethnic cuisines, craft workshops, and many other exciting activities which are available during the show.
Last year, the fair recorded 191,577 visitors and 8,671 press visitors. In addition, 1,310 companies and organisations from 130 countries exhibited at the 2017 edition.
Japanese market is amongst the top source markets to the Maldives.
In 2017, a total of 41,133 tourist arrivals were recorded from Japan which is an increase of 3.1 percent compared to 2016. As of July 2018, 22,110 Japanese tourists visited the Maldives — an increase of 2.6 percent compared to the same period of last year.