Maldives has won the 'Best Sea Destination' at the Italia Travel Awards 2017
Maldives won the award by competing with Seychelles and Polynesia. The award was received by Permanent Representative of Maldives to United Nations offices in Geneva and Ambassador of Maldives to Swiss Federal Council, Dr. Hala Hameed.
The ceremony was held at the Roman Aquarium located in Italy's capital Rome. The event was held with a guest reception, a Gala Dinner and the awarding ceremony.
Maldives won the award for the 'Best Beach Destination' last year competing with Seychelles and Polynesia.
Italia Travel Awards is held to celebrate commitment and expertise in the Italian tourism sector. It is considered as the Oscars of the travel industry in Italy. The main objective of the award is to encourage and boost professionalism and quality of the tourism industry.
It is noteworthy that the Italian market is one of the source markets for the Maldivian tourism Industry. The Italian market showed signs of recovery in 2015 after four years of decline. Market share increased from 4.8% in 2014 to 5.5% in 2016. In 2016, 71,202 tourist arrivals were recorded from Italy which is an increase of 8.5% compared to 2015.