Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has commenced a four-day exhibition at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), the leading global event for the Middle East inbound and outbound travel industry for the last 25 years. The Maldives delegation is led by the Managing Director of MMPRC Thoyyib Mohamed.
As one of the largest trade fairs taken part by the Maldives, ATM is attended by 133 representatives from 66 companies from the Maldives tourism industry. To provide opportunities apart from the ATM, MMPRC has planned a two-day roadshow under the theme of Journey to the sunny side in Abu Dhabi on April 30 and in Dubai on May 2 respectively. The roadshow is aimed to connect the bridge between top operators from the Middle East and tourism partners of Maldives.
The platform will provide a networking session in each city to further strengthen the relationship and create potential opportunities. An event organised by Reed Exhibitions, ATM generates more than USD 2.5 billion of travel industry deals. The annual business-to-business (B2B) exhibition showcases over 2,800 products and destinations from around the world to over 28,000 buyers and travel trade visitors across four-days at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC).
Over 39,000 travel professionals, government ministers and international press, visit ATM every April to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opportunity and trends.
During the four-days of ATM, officials will be meeting with industry professionals to explore means to further develop and strengthen the presence of the Maldives in the Middle East market. The Middle East region, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia market holds much potential, according to MMPRC.
In the 2018 a total of the 52,114 tourists from the region visited the Maldives. From January to March 2019, 12,810 tourist arrived Maldives from Middle East Region which is a growth of 7.7% compared to the same period of time last year. Middle East is already the most well connected region to the Maldives.
Daily flights from the major regional carriers direct to the destination. Hence, by participating at ATM it is expected to boost the number of arrivals from the Middle East.