Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) and a major tour operator from Japan, JTB Media Retailing, has held a webinar to revitalise and maintain the brand presence of the Maldives in the Japanese Market.
JTB Media Retailing is one of the biggest tour operators in Japan and also one of the key players for Japanese travellers to the Maldives. JTB Media Retailing is a subsidiary company of JTB Group, specialising in overseas and domestic leisure packages.
The webinar held on Zoom focused on Japanese consumers to promote the Maldives as a safe haven in partnership with industry partner Jumeirah Maldives Olhahali Island, who hosted the live event on their property. The webinar was attended by 120 viewers and consisted of an introduction by JTB Tabimonogatari, a destination presentation, a live session from the sponsored property, and a Q&A. The purpose of the webinar was to promote the Maldives as a safe destination to travel post-pandemic, increase publicity and awareness of the Maldives as a travel destination by utilising JTB's communication channels, and increase the number of followers on Japanese SNS channels of Visit Maldives. The webinar is estimated to reach over 186,165 people.
In keeping with the marketing strategy of MMPRC for the Japanese market, the webinar aims to market the destination as a safe haven for travellers, promote the one-island-one resort concept, and advertise the unique geography of the scattered islands allowing natural social distancing for visitors. Through the webinar, tourism products available in the Maldives, including resorts, hotels, guesthouses, liveaboards, and homestay options were further advertised. The webinar also helped to familiarise tourists with the unique experiences available in the Maldives.
In 2019, a total of 44,251 travellers arrived in the Maldives from Japan, ranking the island nation as the ninth top source market for Maldivian tourism. The Japanese border is currently open, however, many restrictions are in place for domestic and international travel. MMPRC aims to maintain destination presence and to place the Maldives as a top choice destination to travel to when travel restrictions in Japan are eased further. Activities in the pipeline for the Japanese market include media and celebrity familiarization trips, and social media campaigns.
As the company responsible for marketing the Maldives as a destination abroad, MMPRC carried out 260 different marketing activities in 22 global markets last year, including fairs, roadshows, familiarisation trips, marketing campaigns, webinars, and interviews. The greatest testament to the success of these activities came late last year, as the Maldives secured the title of World’s Leading Destination at the 2021 World Travel Awards, globally recognised as the hallmark of industry excellence. This is the second consecutive year that the Maldives had successfully earned this prestigious title, a shining testimony of the trust placed in the magic of Maldivian hospitality by travellers from all over the globe.
This year also celebrates an exceptional year to visit the Maldives, the Golden Jubilee celebration of tourism in the Maldives kicked off earlier last year with plans to conduct new and exciting activities throughout the year. MMPRC has planned over 60 in-person events for the year 2022, including 11 fairs, roadshows, and events scheduled for just the first quarter.