The Maldives held a special day-long welcome ceremony for all incoming tourists on Tuesday as part of its activities to mark World Tourism Day. A Korean Air flight was the first to touch down at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport Tuesday morning and those arrived on the flight were warmly welcomed by the Tourism Ministry and the Maldives Airports Company. Corporate Communications General Manager at MACL Hassan Areef said the welcome ceremony would continue throughout the day.
To celebrate World Tourism Day 2016, Ministry of Tourism has planned various activities including a tourism forum and a tourism conference. The forum was held this morning while the conference is scheduled to be held tomorrow. The Ministry, in collaboration with school and the resorts in the Maldives, has also planned an exposure trips to increase the level of awareness on Maldives tourism industry. These trips are scheduled to be held on Saturday. 23 resorts would be welcoming students from 10 atolls in this event. 363 students, 49 teachers and 39 parents are representing 29 schools. In this activity, opportunities are given to students with special needs as well. The theme set by the United Nations World Tourism Organization for this year’s World Tourism Day is “Tourism for all – Promoting Universal Accessibility”. This theme focuses on catering for the need of all of us, whether we are travelling or staying at home.