Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has kicked off a destination visibility campaign with Singapore Airlines (SIA) targeting the US market. The joint campaign between Visit Maldives and SIA will be conducted from July to August 2022.
Based at Singapore International Changi Airport, SIA is one of the largest airlines in the world, flying to more than 62 destinations in 32 countries and offering a variety of classes. The current market share from Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport in the US to Velana International Airport in the Maldives is 13%. It is the 4th largest carrier in terms of market share to the Maldives.
The joint campaign between MMPRC and SIA USA will focus on driving conversion among in-market travel intenders, at key moments in the research and booking process. It will encourage travel to the Maldives with the comfort of SIA products and services, plus enhanced health and safety measures with #SIACares.
During the campaign, the websites and social media accounts of Expedia, Skyscanner and Pinterest will be used to increase destination visibility for the Maldives by placing advertisements and redirecting potential travellers to book flights to the Maldives via SIA. The campaign will help tap into audiences of travel-intenders and utilise their granular targeting capabilities to influence and convert customers from Expedia. It will also use Skyscanner for high-impact placements and effective formats to reach travellers and provide relevant contextual information and recommendations in the exploring, planning and purchase stages.
Furthermore, during the joint campaign, qualified traffic would be sent to the SIA site through Pinterest in order to increase bookings. The campaign is conducted as part of the strategy of MMPRC for the US market to promote the Maldives on high-end channels, focused advertising and promotion of individual products and experiences. It is expected to increase future booking and arrivals and enable the Maldives to establish itself as a safe haven and a top-of-the-mind destination for travellers from the US market.
So far this year, the US ranks as the 6th top source market for the Maldives with 41,943 tourists as of June 12. It is 4.8% of the total 892,960 tourists who visited the Maldives during this period. MMPRC has held several activities to increase brand visibility and destination momentum for the Maldives in the US market. These include a campaign with Worth Magazine, ATTA’s AdventureELEVATE 2022, a travel trade training webinar, and a campaign with Goway. Ongoing activities for the market include joint campaigns with ASTA and ID Travel Group and a Media Familiarisation trip. Many similar activities are in the pipeline for the rest of the year as well.