Visit Maldives joins WTM Virtual 2020

Visit Maldives, on Sunday, announced its participation in WTM Virtual 2020 from November 9 to 11.

The 2020 iteration of WTM was fully shifted to online platforms in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Leading travel and tourism experts from across the world will participate in WTM in order to deliberate the restoration and development of business connections amid the pandemic.

The three day event will include live conference sessions and forums centred around the obstacles currently being faced by the global tourism industry and avenues of addressing such difficulties through innovative solutions.

During WTM 2020, Visit Maldives is scheduled to join face-to-face meetings and speed networking sessions as part of its effort to boost destination popularity and increase awareness concerning the unique safety provided by the country's dispersed geography.

In addition to Visit Maldives, Villa Hotels and Resorts, Kaimoo Hotels and Resorts, Sun Siyam Resorts, Radisson Blu Resorts Maldives and Robinson Club Maldives are also joining WTM 2020 as industry partners.

"WTM Virtual 2020 is one of the leading global events for the travel and tourism industry", stated Managing Director of Visit Maldives Thoyyib Mohamed.

"By participating in this event, we hope to assure travellers that Maldives is indeed a safe destination to travel to. Our aim is to increase our brand visibility and awareness to increase tourist arrivals during this time".

Visit Maldives has revealed that its destination promotion campaigns were re-strategised to address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with marketing activities being shifted to online and digital platforms.

Visit Maldives is currently conducting several marketing activities worldwide to ensure the continued popularity of Maldives as a tourist destination. These activities include global campaigns with CNN, DNATA campaign in Middle East, outdoor campaigns in UK and South Korea, a social media campaign with Marco Polo in Germany, campaigns with Travel Weekly in UK, campaign with WeddingSutra in India, campaign with OTA in France and an online campaign with Travelata, Sletat and Squiz in Russia.

Further to this, Maldives has been a hotspot for several influencers and celebrities from all over the world since the reopening. Demi Rose, Katie Price and Natalie are among the ones who have travelled to the sunny side of life from the UK and they have featured the island nation and its tourist properties in a number of their social media posts. Visit Maldives anticipates that there will be more such travellers in the future.

Maldives reopened its borders to international passengers on July 15, after nearly four months since the state halted issuing on-arrival visas on March 27. Guesthouses were permitted to resume operations and kick start local tourism on October 15.

Despite the lifting of restrictions, Maldives has noted a significant reduction in tourist arrivals compared to pre-COVID figures. While a total of 382,760 tourists were recorded before borders were closed in March, the latest figures by the Ministry of Tourism show that only 37,468 tourists arrived in Maldives between July 15 and October 28.

However, the Minister of Tourism earlier expressed hopes for the industry's recovery, estimating that 100,000 tourists would visit Maldives before the end of 2020. The tourism ministry expects a total of 500,000 arrivals for the year.