A team of journalists from Japan has arrived in the Maldives on a familiarisation (FAM) trip.
The Japanese journalists arrived in the Maldives on January 11 for the event, which will be conducted from January 11-17. This is the first FAM trip organised by Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) this year.
The journalists from Japan consist of writers from publications and magazines which are highly popular among affluent audiences in the Japanese market, with a combined reach of millions. The team of journalists will be hosted at Pullman Maldives Maamutaa and Mercure Maldives Kooddoo resort. During their stay, the team will familiarise themselves with the world-renowned Maldivian hospitality and unique experiences on offer for holidaymakers.
Following the trip, the journalists from Japan will write about their experiences for several publications in online and offline travel media, including reports of hosting airline and resorts. MMPRC stated this trip provides the Maldives with the perfect opportunity to promote the destination as a safe haven for travellers from the Japanese market through online articles, publications and the individual social media platforms of the visiting journalists.
The trip is part of MMPRC’s marketing strategy for the Japanese market, which focuses on building greater brand awareness and promoting different segments of tourism available in the Maldives to the Japanese travel trade and travellers. MMPRC said such activities aim to provide the latest information about the travel guidelines, promote the resorts, hotels, guesthouses and liveaboards in the Maldives, advocate the strict health and safety measures in place and advertise the unique experiences available to Japanese tourists from the Maldives. MMPRC said further emphasis is placed in promoting the unique geography of the scattered islands of the Maldives, which provides natural social distance for tourists, making it one of the safest destinations in the world.
In 2019, a total of 44,251 travellers arrived in the Maldives from Japan, ranking the island nation as the 9th top source market for Maldivian tourism. The Japanese border is currently open, however, many restrictions are in place for domestic and international travel.
Due to the Omicron variant, some of the previously eased regulations had been reinstated. However, the total COVID-19 cases in Japan remain extremely low due to these restrictions - there are less than 150 positive cases reported per day and this has been sustained for the last 5 months. MMPRC said it aims to maintain destination presence and to place Maldives as the top choice destination to travel to as soon as the Japanese borders open for international travel.