Maldives take part in One World Travel Market (OTM) held in Mumbai, India from January 23 to 25.
OTM is the gateway to India's largest travel markets and one of the leading annual travel trade shows in India, which is held at the Bombay Convention Centre. A total of 20 participants from 15 different companies from the Maldivian tourism industry have travelled to Mumbai for the exhibition. During the 3 days, the Maldives delegation is led by the newly appointed Managing Director of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation Thoyyib Mohamed.
OTM is among the largest platforms where international travel trade buyers and professionals meet in India. Mumbai is also India's largest travel source market.
This year, OTM will host 1-thousand exhibitors from 50 different countries to showcase their products. Officials will be meeting with industry professionals during the fair to explore means to further develop and strengthen the presence of Maldives in the Indian market. In addition to business meetings conducted during the fair, the Maldivian delegation will directly engage with major tour operators and top travel trade media, by presenting up-to-date information on the destination. This is a new approach that is being undertaken in OTM this year.
The Indian travel market is the second fastest growing outbound travel market in the world and is expected to hit 50 million outbound travellers by 2020. The outbound travel spent by Indians is forecast to grow to USD 45 billion by the year 2022.
By the end of 2018, there was a total of 90,474 tourist arrivals from India to Maldives, comprising of 6.1% of the total market share. India is currently ranked the top 5th market in terms of tourist arrival figures to Maldives.