Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation, (MMPRC) has kicked off a month-long marketing campaign with Italy’s Sporting Vacanze. The campaign will be held from January to February 2022.
One of the top 10 tour operators in Italy, Sporting Vacanze is a member of ASTOI, the Italian Association for Tour Operators. Over the past 20 years, Sporting Vacanze played an important role in the Maldives’ endeavor to become one of the top destinations for Italian travellers, with over 8000 pax sold each year. In 2020, they created one of the first travel communities on social media with more than 1000 travel agencies.
MMPRC stated the campaign will see dedicated web marketing, social media advertising of Maldives posted on popular websites and social media accounts of corrieredellosport.it and tuttosport.it and Italo magazine. According to MMPRC, this campaign aims to create greater engagement and affinity with the Maldives among Italians.
The campaign further aims to re-establish the Maldives as a close-to-heart destination using various platforms to promote the different segments of tourism in the Maldives including honeymoon/romantic holidays, wellness, luxury, diving and water sports. The campaign will help to market the Maldives as a safe haven, promote the strict measures taken at Maldivian resorts, hotels, guesthouses and liveaboards, and inform travel trade and travellers of different experiences available in the Maldives.
Despite several months of lockdown and border closure during 2020, Italy ranked as the 4th top source market to Maldives with 46,690 arrivals, while the country ranked as the 3rd top source market to Maldives in 2019 with 136,343 arrivals. Since the pandemic, the arrivals from the market declined drastically due to travel restrictions and health guidelines across the globe. On September 29, 2021, the Italian government established a travel corridor with tourist destinations including the Maldives, which allows Italians to travel to Maldives without the need to undergo quarantine upon returning to Italy.
During 2021, the Maldives welcomed over 1.3 million tourists, with over 27,000 tourists coming from Italy.