Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC / Visit Maldives) participates in SATTE 2022 to enhance brand visibility in the Indian market. The fair is being held from 18th – 20th May 2022 in Delhi, India. MMPRC is participating in the event to further promote the destination in the Indian market along with 33 industry partners.
SATTE, is South Asia’s leading business-to-business exhibition held for travel and tourism trade professionals. Since its initial event, SATTE has grown, both in terms of exhibitors and visitors (including international and domestic buyers and is today the biggest networking forum for the travel and tourism industry in South Asia. The event acts as a platform for the Maldives to share the latest destination information and travel guidelines with travel trade professionals and travelers from South Asia, especially the Indian market.
Through this event, MMPRC will market our tourism products, namely resorts, hotels, guesthouses and liveaboards, promote the safety measures in place in these facilities, and market the unique geography of our scattered islands which provides ultimate safety, seclusion, and privacy for visitors. Furthermore, we will also market the unique experiences available for tourists in the Maldives through such events.
MMPRC is participating in this event as part of our marketing strategies for the Indian market. This strategy focuses on promoting Maldives as a safe haven for the travelers and promotes the message through travel trade professionals to potential tourists. It focuses to ensure that Maldives remains as a preferred destination, to maintain and strengthen the destination presence in this market. Through such activities we aim to provide a platform for industry partners to showcase their products in order to achieve pre pandemic arrival numbers from the Indian market.
India was the largest market in 2021 with over 278,740 travelers and a market share of 22.6%. Similarly, India was the largest market in 2020 with an arrival figure of 62,960 and a market share of 11.3%. As of April 27th this year Maldives welcomed 560,996 tourists to the country out of which 65,412 were from India. During this period India ranked as the second top source market to the country, contributing 11.4% of the total market share for this period.
MMPRC has been participating in fairs and exhibitions and holding several activities for this market to maintain destination momentum and further increase arrivals from this market. This includes virtual and in-person activities such as major marketing campaigns with stakeholders, webinars, roadshows and familiarization trips. Many activities are in the pipeline for this market for 2022 as well.
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 recognised 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.