Maldives is promoted at the global luxury event, ILTM Cannes 2021, in France. The event will be held from 6 to 9 December 2021.

ILTM Cannes France is a trade show with pre-scheduled appointments, educational sessions, networking and entertainment. This travel and tourism event in France provides the perfect business opportunities and access to qualified and relevant travel buyers, influencers, and market professionals. Exhibiting at ILTM Cannes brings in the unique opportunity to magnify businesses in the region by giving unique access to new contacts as much as fortifying the relationship with existing ones. ILTM Cannes 2021 is expected to attract international visitors from over 95 countries.

MMPRC (Visit Maldives) is taking part in this event along with 14 industry partners. The participation in ILTM Cannes 2021 is to connect with the global luxury travel industry’s most influential partners. The aim is to connect and network with luxury stakeholders of the industry from the market, to inform travelers of the latest information about the destination.

The participation in this event comes as part of the marketing strategy for France. Through the participation in ILTM Cannes 2021, MMPRC and industry partners can provide the latest information about the destination, the strict safety measures in place in the resorts, hotels, guesthouses and liveaboards to the travel trade and potential tourists from the French market. Through this, MMPRC and industry partners can promote the unique geography of the Maldivian islands, which provides natural social distancing for tourists, making Maldives one of the safest destinations for tourists to visit post-COVID as well as market the unique experiences available for tourists in the Maldives. More than 70,000 meetings took place between travel trade officials who participated and visited the event during the 3 days of ILTM Cannes 2019.

As of 4th December 2021, Maldives has welcomed 1,177,905 to the country, out of which 2.1 percent or 23,604 tourists were from France. The country currently ranks as the top 09th source market to the Maldives.

MMPRC has been holding several activities to maintain destination momentum, increase bookings and arrivals from this market. This includes a training webinar sessions held for the travel trade from France, PATA France webinar, digital and social media advertising campaign with Odigeo, partnership with TO Amplitudes, Digital advertising campaign with Invibes, Mocano Road Show, IFTM Top Resa and marketing campaign with Madame Figaro. Upcoming activities for this market includes a marketing campaign with Kuoni.