Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has launched a destination marketing campaign with India’s leading omnichannel travel services company, Thomas Cook India.
MMPRC said this strategic partnership is aimed at sustaining the Maldives’ visibility among Indian travelers and increasing arrivals from India to the Maldives. The three-month campaign will be conducted from April to July, 2022.
Thomas Cook, India’s leading tour operator, enjoys strong consumer trust with over 140 years of expertise in the travel & tourism sector, a diversified portfolio of travel and related products-services and an extensive B2C and B2B consumer base, pan India. They are also the biggest tour operators to sell a vibrant range of holidays that incorporate value, premium to uber luxury properties from the Maldives to the Indian market and beyond.
Through this campaign, MMPRC will market the destination as one of the safest destinations for India or Indian travelers across all segments and profiles. The campaign will highlight the unique geography of the scattered islands of the Maldives and promote its tourism products, including resorts, hotels, guesthouses, liveaboards, and the unique experiences available for tourists in the destination. MMPRC said under this campaign, it will be able to provide the latest information about the destination and its travel guidelines to the travel trade and tourists from the Indian market. The campaign is expected to create visibility for the Maldives and increase room nights and passenger numbers.
Speaking on the partnership with Thomas Cook, MMPRC’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Thoyyib Mohamed highlighted that India has been a top source market to the Maldives in the past couple of years, citing that the market played an imperative role in the recovery of the tourism sector post-COVID. Thoyyib further expressed confidence that this campaign with Thomas Cook would further boost bookings and arrivals from India for the upcoming summer season and beyond.
India was the largest tourist source market in 2021 with over 278,740 travelers and a market share of 22.6%. As of March 30 this year, the Maldives welcomed over 427,677 tourists to the country, out of which 46,154 or 10.8% tourists are from India, ranking it as the 3rd top source market to the destination.