The ‘Dive into Maldives’ roadshow kicked off yesterday (May 26) in Australia, with the objective of boosting Australian tourism in Maldives.
Organised by the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), ten representative partners from the tourism industry of Maldives are participating in the roadshow together with the corporation.
According to an established resort manager, the Maldives is still a relatively unknown destination in Australia, due to little exposure from tourism operators.
“Many people [in Australia] still don’t know where it is. People are hearing about it, but there is limited public information,” the source told Minivan News.
“We have seen some growth,” the industry source continued, “they have a lot of their own islands, like Bali and Thailand that are cost effective, but now they’re looking for the next destination.”
According to the MMPRC, the roadshow offers a platform for the Maldives to establish direct contact with the Australian travel trade.
It is also an opportunity for the Australian travel trade to receive the latest updates regarding the Maldives, as well as the chance to directly meet the representatives of some of the Maldives’ most popular hotels, resorts, and travel agents who are participating in the roadshow.
An overwhelming response was received from the Australian travel trade for the Maldives roadshow participation, indicating their level of interest in the destination, according to a press release from the MMPRC.
Visits from Australian tourists made up 1.4 per cent of the visitors to the Maldives up to April of this year, and a total of 16,913 visitors from Australia visited Maldives last year – a growth of 38.1% compared to the previous year.
The roadshow will be held in three major cities – Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth – for three consecutive days, and will finish tomorrow (May 28).
Similar roadshows were held in China in 2012, following the explosion in Chinese tourist arrivals.
The main aims of the tour in China was to build confidence in the Maldives as a destination as well as to portray the country as an investment opportunity.
In 2011, China became the market leader in terms of visitors to the country, when the number of visitors from China surpassed those from Britain, reaching 198,000.
Since then, by individual market performances, China has remained the overall market leader to the Maldives, making up over 26% of shares by the end of April 2014.
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It is true that Australians, like 99.9% of people, do not know where the Maldives is. The Australians are also not very impressed with Muslims as a whole and are known to discourage immigration from Muslim countries.
So do make sure they don't find out that you are an intolerant '100 % muslim country' or else they will run in the opposite direction.
Why doesn't your tourism department concentrate on increasing tourism from countries that share your religion?.....why is it that you only want the revenue from non muslim tourists but deny them freedom of worship?