The Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) will be increasing its digital campaigns next year, aiming to reduce the cost of participating in international tourism fairs.
At a press conference held to provide information on the corporation’s initiatives for next year, MMPRC announced that the corporation had successfully achieved its targets for this year. The corporation stated that several plans are in place to further enhance tourism promotion efforts next year.
MMPRC’s Chairperson Abdulla Giyas said the corporation’s primary focus next year would be on online digital campaigns.
“As we have highlighted before, every year, we use 80 percent of our resources on travel and trade fairs. Next year, we will prioritise digitally-driven campaigns — advertising viral campaigns, B2C networking events, while collaborating with international airlines and brands,” Giyas said.
MMPRC shared that the corporation recently launched an online mini-campaign that generated 22 million impressions over a one-month period. Based on the success of the campaign, MMPRC plans to conduct marketing campaigns in collaboration with various social media and booking platforms.
According to MMPRC, a large number of people view information on the Maldives on the Global Distribution System (GDS) but only two percent of them visit the Maldives. The corporation is working to identify and determine opportunities to further market the Maldives in each region. Giyas added that focusing on digital campaigns would significantly reduce its expenditure on fairs.
“We wish to highlight that we have already reduced costs on WTM and all other fairs, with USD 227,000 saved from WTM expenditure alone. Next year, we will receive 50 percent of expenditure on trade shows from various NGOs. This includes Guesthouse Association, MATATO, MATI, and Liveaboard Association”, he said.
Next year, the government aims to increase tourism revenue to USD 5 billion, while also increasing the number of tourists by 15 percent.