Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation, (MMPRC/Visit Maldives) has participated in Travmedia’s International Media Marketplace (IMM) – Australia to market the Maldives as a destination. The Maldives is being represented at the fair on behalf of MMPRC by the PR agency designated for the Australian market, which took place on the 17th and 18th of February, 2022.

Travmedia’s International Media Marketplace (IMM) is the leading global networking event, connecting the travel industry with top journalists, editors, influencers and broadcasters. This is the 10th edition of the annual event, which is unrivaled for relationship building and networking opportunities. This year, the event included 5665 exhibitors with an estimated 10,500 media personnel attending the event.

The main purpose of participating in this event is to promote Maldives as a safe haven for travelers and to update the Australian travel trade with the latest information and travel guidelines from the destination. Through the event, MMPRC showcased the geographical advantages of the scattered islands of Maldives, allowing natural social distancing making Maldives one of the safest destinations for tourists. Our products, including resorts, hotels, guesthouses/homestays and liveaboards, were also marketed through this event.

The participation in IMM is in line with MMPRC’s strategy to maintain the destination presence in this market and to efficiently promote various segments of tourism to travel trade professionals. This strategy aims to assist the destination to increase future bookings and arrival figures from Australia and New Zealand.

Before the pandemic, the Australian market was performing very well with positive growth each year. In 2019, the Australian market was in the top ten in terms of arrivals, with 39,928 tourists coming into Maldives. Since the pandemic, Australia ceased outbound and inbound travels for the most part of the past two years. The market just reopened for outbound travels in January 2022, and numbers are predicted to gradually increase this year, considering pre-pandemic figures.

The Maldives has held several activities, such as webinars, social and digital media campaigns targeting Australian travel trade as part of the effort to maintain destination momentum and increase arrivals from the market. Many similar activities are planned ahead for this market for 2022 as well.

As the company responsible for marketing the Maldives as a destination abroad, MMPRC carried out 260 different marketing activities in 22 global markets last year, including fairs, roadshows, familiarization trips, marketing campaigns, webinars, and interviews. The greatest testament to the success of these activities came late last year, as the Maldives secured the title of ‘World’s Leading Destination’ (among several other accolades) at the 2021 World Travel Awards, globally recognized as the hallmark of industry excellence. This is the second consecutive year that the Maldives had successfully earned this prestigious title, a shining testimony of the trust placed in the ‘magic of Maldivian hospitality’ by travelers from all over the globe.

This year also celebrates an exceptional year to visit the Maldives – the Golden Jubilee celebration of tourism in the Maldives kicked off earlier last year with plans to conduct new and exciting activities throughout the year. MMPRC has planned over 60 in-person events for the year 2022, including 11 fairs, roadshows and events scheduled for just the first quarter.