Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has initiated marketing the Maldives at World Travel Market (WTM) Africa 2022. The event is being hosted from April 11-13 April 2022 in the South African capital city, Cape Town.
MMPRC stated the WTM Africa show was launched in 2014 under the Africa Travel Week umbrella to bring the benefits, opportunities, and expertise from the global travel trade to travel professionals in this region. WTM Africa estimates participation from over 6000 travel industry professionals. Similar to the WTM flagship events like WTM London, or ATM in Dubai, WTM Africa delivers a platform for travel trade industry buyers, sellers, and media representatives to connect, network, and hold pre-scheduled meetings and appointments in order to form mutually beneficial relationships and create business opportunities. The event is frequented by corporate travel decision-makers, potential investors in hospitality, leisure, and travel, and tour operators and travel agents with VIP clients.
The Maldives is represented at this event by MMPRC along with 11 co-exhibitors. Through the event, MMPRC aims to increase penetration for various tourism products, including luxury resorts, hotels, guesthouses, and liveaboards from the African market. It also aims to market the luxury experiences available in the destination and promote the unique scattered geography of the islands which provides natural social distancing for visitors, making it one of the safest destinations to vacation.
MMPRC stated that participation in this event is aligned with its marketing strategy for the African market. This strategy is based on maintaining destination momentum and increasing bookings and arrivals from this market while providing the latest information about the destination and guidelines for the travel trade and potential travelers.
Furthermore, MMPRC stated Africa is an important market to the Maldives, with arrivals from countries like South Africa increasing gradually over the years. Over 70 percent increase in arrivals was observed between 2019 and 2021 from the African market, and in 2021 South Africa ranked as the 17th top source market to the Maldives.