In conjunction with the reopening of Maldives’ borders and the launching of “Rediscover Maldives…the Sunny Side of Life” campaign, Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has kick-started two campaigns with Dnata Travel and Emirates Woman.
Being a part of The Emirates Group, Dnata Travel is the UAE’s longest standing travel provider with more than 60 years of experience in the industry. The company’s multi-channel offering includes stores across the UAE and GCC, a call centre offering 24/7 support, a website (dnataTravel.com) and social media presence with prominent reach.
During the two-month joint campaign with Dnata Travel, Maldives will be promoted through a dedicated Maldives page on Dnata Travel’s website, EDMs, promotional videos, paid social media advertisements, promotional flyers (digital and print), retail POS advertising, training programs and PR initiatives.
With over 40 years at the forefront of publishing in the Middle East, Emirates Woman is the leading women’s fashion and lifestyle brand in the region.
The two-week advertising campaign with Emirates Woman will focus on articles highlighting traveling to Maldives for UAE residents. These articles will include attractive images as well as links which will give readers a better picture of the destination. In addition to this, their newsletter and social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram) will be utilized to bring out the full benefits of the readership. The cumulative reach would be 450k website views and 243k social media followers.
The key objective of both campaigns is to increase the destination presence and tourist arrivals by reassuring tourists in the Middle East that Maldives remains a safe haven for all travelers to enjoy. In this regard, the messaging would highlight the safety measures that are undertaken by the Maldives along with the naturally distant islands that are geographically isolated which adhere to the idea of safe travel.
With the Middle East being one of the leading markets in terms of arrivals to the Maldives, MMPRC continues in its efforts in popularizing the destination within the region. In early 2020, Maldives was promoted in the Middle East by conducting media FAM trips, marketing campaigns through Vogue Arabia, mall and taxi branding and the virtual Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2020.
The tourist arrivals from the Middle East to the Maldives were recorded as 60,003 in 2019, with a 15.1% increase compared to 2018. Prior to the lockdown, there were 13,436 visitors from the Middle East whereas there has been an arrival of 2,799 visitors after the reopening, making it the number one arrival source since then.
