Maldives kickstarts ME Campaign

In adherence to the ongoing “Rediscover Maldives…the sunny side of life” campaign, Visit Maldives has started a radio promotion with Al Khaleejiya for the Middle Eastern region. The purpose of this two-week campaign is to promote the destination and the unique experiences available in Maldives.

The campaign aims to inform prospective travellers from the Middle East about the safety measures that are imposed in the Maldives and ensure them that Maldives is a safe haven.

Al Khaleejiya is one of the most popular radio channels in UAE, and the highest ranking Khaleeji channel in the region. By utilising the channel’s weekly reach of 480,000+, their exclusive audience of 379,000, and their weekend reach of 223,000 listeners, this campaign would reach out to Emiratis on a mass scale, aiming to create inspiration for choosing Maldives as their preferred holiday destination.

With the reopening of major Middle Eastern borders, tourists are able to visit Maldives more frequently now. Thus, efforts in the Middle Eastern market have increased in order to regain the market share and increase tourist arrivals from the GCC and the KSA region. This is carried forward by utilising campaigns such as the joint campaign with dnata travel and promotions with Emirates Woman, targeting potential segments. Under the Rediscover Maldives campaign, a series of webinars were also conducted for the travel trade of the Middle East market and other key markets.

The airlines operating from the Middle Eastern region include Emirate Airlines, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways. In addition to this, flydubai has started its operations to the Maldives on October 27, 2020. While tourist arrivals from the Middle East to the Maldives showed a 15.1 per cent increase, with a record of 60,003 arrivals in 2019, current arrival trends since the reopening positions the UAE market 3rd in terms of arrivals from the date of border opening.

Visit Maldives is currently conducting major marketing activities in key markets such as Global Campaign with CNN, integrated webinar sessions in China, and the recent participation in WTM Virtual 2020 in the UK.