Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has held a joint webinar with the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) targetting the U.S. market.
The webinar provided the latest destination updates, information on products and experiences, and promoted the Maldives as a safe haven destination for the US market.
ASTA is among the leading global advocates for travel advisors with over 14,500 members representing over 120 countries as members. Therefore, the webinar with ASTA provided a significant opportunity to promote and strengthen the destination brand presence in the U.S. market.
The hour-long webinar session was held by the ASTA to educate the agents on the Maldives as a popular and safe tourist destination to ensure that the agents are well informed about the latest updates and the destination overall. The presentation focused on the individual products and the experiences of the Maldives with a focus on the unique geography of scattered islands which lends itself to natural social distancing and the one-island-one-resort concept. The presentation also showcased other experiences unique to the destination such as underwater spas and restaurants.
In addition, information regarding the COVID-19 situation in the Maldives, entry requirements as well as the latest travel guidelines was presented during the webinar. It highlighted that Maldives achieved Safe Travel Stamp in 2020 from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and Velana International Airport (VIA) health accreditation as a recognition of the stringent measures in place.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, the U.S. continues to contribute a significant number of tourists to the Maldives ranking as the 6th top source market with an arrival figure of 15,914 as of June 2, 2021. The Maldives has welcomed a total of 457,747 tourists so far in 2021.
Being a key market, many activities are planned for the year including destination training, webinars, familiarisation trips, roadshows, virtual events, and participation in physical fairs such as Ultra Summit and the DEMA Show 2021.