Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has announced plans to participate in 19 international travel fairs next year, adding two more events to fair calendar.
The fairs that the state tourism promotion company plans to take part in next year include:
- Boot in Düsseldorf, Germany (January 19-27)
- OTM in Mumbai, India (January 23-25)
- FITUR in Madrid, Spain (January 23-27)
- Fespo in Zurich, Switzerland (January 31-February 3)
- EMITT in Istanbul, Turkey (January 31-February 3)
- TTF in Chennai, India (February 8-10)
- BIT Milan in Milan, Italy (February 10-12)
- TTF in Bangalore, India (February 15-17)
- Amour Asia Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand (February)
- ITB in Berlin, Germany (March 6-10)
- MITT in Moscow, Russia (March 12-14)
- COTTM in Beijing, China (April 15-17)
- ATM in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (April 28-May 1)
- Tourism EXPO Japan (JATA) in Tokyo, Japan (August 20-23)
- IFTM Top Resa in Paris, France (October 1-4)
- TTG Travel Experience in Rimini, Italy (October 9-11)
- CAEXPOTE in Guilin, Guangxi, China (October)
- SIHE in Lugano, Switzerland (November)
- WTM in London, United Kingdom (November 4-6)
MMPRC took part in 17 fairs this year.
Maldives will be exhibiting at TTF in Chennai and Bangalore for the first time next year.
Government has come under fire from private organisations representing industry stakeholders such as the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) over the lack of effort and budget to promote the Maldives as a destination.
These concerns come as the world-famous holiday destination struggles to match an increased bed capacity.
Over the past few years, dozens of uninhabited islands have been leased to local and foreign resort developers. Several international brands have entered into the market, increasing the number of resorts to more than 130. That number is set to increase as another 20 resorts are expected to open over the next two years.
Along with the new resort openings come the challenge of increasing demand from budget travellers who choose guesthouses over luxury resorts that the Maldives is known for. The guesthouse sector has rapidly expanded with over 500 guesthouses in operation today.
The government has announced new steps to maintain a structured growth in tourism, including a slowdown in leasing islands for resort development and increased marketing efforts in key markets such as China and the Middle East in order to reach an ambitious target of a record 1.5 million tourist arrivals this year.
Maldives had in September welcomed the one millionth visitor of 2018.
According to the latest figures, total arrivals for the past nine months of the year increased by 8.3 percent to reach 1,080,459 compared to the 998,009 in the same period of last year.