Island-hopping Culinary Extravaganza this Summer in the Maldives

Soneva, the world-leading luxury resort operator, announces that Soneva Fushi will be joining this year's Baa Atoll Summer Festival. From July 7-22, 12 resorts in the Maldives will pool their culinary creativity for an island-hopping experience in which guests can embark on a unique dine-around voyage. Over a series of dedicated nights, the Summer Festival will showcase each resort's unique culinary offerings, reaffirming the
Baa Atoll's reputation as a must-visit summer destination.In addition to Soneva Fushi, participating resorts in the 2019 atoll-wide event include Amilla Fushi, Anantara Kihavah, Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu, Dreamland, Dusit Thani, Finolhu, Four Seasons Landaa, Reethi Beach, Royal Island, The Westin Maldives and Vakkaru Maldives.
The festival will officially commence on Sunday, July 7 with a series of exclusive sunset cocktail events. Over the next two weeks, each participating resort will welcome guests staying at neighboring resorts for a special dinner at the resort's featured restaurant on designated nights. Each resort will showcase its own culinary expertise with a three-course set menu, priced at US$120++ per person, including a glass of wine. A special children's menu will also be available. Complimentary inter-island transportation will be organized by the participating resorts on the designated nights. Special arrangements can also be made on request for those who wish to repeat an experience at a specific resort for US$25++ per person for shared boat transfers.
Each resort will be offering an action-packed calendar of activities and experiences for the whole family throughout the festival period. Guests can expect beach activities, conservation events, water experiences and more. This year will see the introduction of a round-robin inter-resort Beach Volleyball Tournament between staff and guests, as well as a Full Moon Island Clean-Up Day. Finally, on Monday July 22, the festival's closing ceremony will involve all 12 resorts, bringing everyone together for a day of fun in the sun on a sandbank in the heart of the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The day's events will include a beach party for guests, a round-robin final volleyball match and the show-stopping Catamaran Regatta competition.

Source: luxurytravelmagazine

Oman Air to come back to the Maldives

Oman Air to come back to the Maldives

Oman Air will resume its service between Muscat and Malé in the Maldives.

Flights will recommence for the winter season from October 28th and will be operated by the new Boeing 737 aircraft.

Oman Air flights from Muscat to Maldives will operate on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the flight from Maldives to Muscat will operate on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The Maldives is a beautiful chain of 26 ring atolls, made up of more than 1,000 coral islands, located only three and a half hours away from Oman.

Well known for its beaches, blue lagoons and extensive reefs, the Maldives is an incredibly popular tourist destination with an increasing number of international visitors arriving year on year.

Abdulaziz Al Raisi, chief executive of Oman Air, said: “We are delighted to be resuming our Maldives route and look forward to welcoming our valued Oman Air guests on board our latest Boeing 737 aircraft.

“We thoroughly encourage our friends from Europe and the rest of our network, flying to the Maldives to stop over and explore Oman en route.

“Our new Maldives service offers holidaymakers the perfect opportunity to explore Muscat, the metropolitan capital of Oman before escaping to the beautiful shores of the Maldives.”

The relaunch of the Maldives service comes at an exciting time, as Oman Air recently started their flights to Istanbul in June with operations scheduled to Casablanca in July and Moscow in October.

Registration For Boot Fair 2018 | MMPRC

Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has opened registration for the upcoming Boot Fair in Germany.

In a circular, MMPRC asked those interested in taking part in the fair, which is set to be held in Dusseldorf from January 20-28, to fill in a co-exhibitor registration form and send it to MMPRC with the payment before 3pm on November 2.

Registration costs USD 1,000 for resorts, hotels, and foreign travel agents and tour operators, and USD 500 for safari vessels, guesthouses, local travel agents, dive operators, transfer companies and picnic islands. Another USD 1,000 will be charged from each party in all categories, except foreign travel agents and tour operators (USD 2,000 for them), for table booking.

According to MMPRC, the fees cover two representatives per company. A fee of USD 212 should be paid for each additional representative, it added.

One of the leading dive and water sports shows in the world, the annual Boot Fair witnesses a wide range of products and services such as luxury yachts, diving equipment, water sports equipment and dive destinations. In 2016, over 1,800 exhibitors from 68 countries showcased their products to an audience of more than 250,000 visitors from 90 different countries.

With 99 percent water, the Maldives has traditionally been a dive destination and continues to attract a large number of divers every year.

Known internationally as one of the world’s best scuba diving destinations, the Maldives has an abundance of dive sites with one thrilling dive opportunity after another. The islands of the Maldives have consistently warm waters with outstanding visibility throughout the year, and consist of exhilarating dive sites such as vibrant thilas, exciting channels, coral-filled overhangs and fascinating wrecks.

Germany continues to lead growth in arrivals from Europe, the biggest source market for the Maldives tourism industry, with a one percent year-on-year increase in the number of German tourists that visited the Maldives in the first nine months of the year. Official figures show that 67,438 Germans visited the Maldives during the period compared to the 66,797 in the same period of last year.

The Sunny Side Of Life Showcased At The Annual Arabian Travel Market

Maldives Marketing and Public Relation Corporation together with partners from the Maldivian Tourism Industry are participating at the 24th Annual Arabian Travel Market. The event opened today and will go on till the 27th April 2017.

The Maldives delegation is led by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr. Hussain Lirar accompanied by Acting Managing Director of MMRPC, Mr. Haris Mohamed. The Ambassador Designate of Maldives for United Arab Emirates, Dr. Hussain Niyaz will part of the official Maldives Delegation. A total of 59 companies and over 125 participants have travelled to Dubai to attend ATM 2017 fair to showcase their products.

Maldives…the Sunnyside of Life is showcased at a 200 square meter stand with a new design concept showing the natural beauty of the destination through colourful images. During the four day exhibition, special activities will be carried out at the Maldives stand to attract more visitors. This includes social media campaigns which aim to increase the online presence of the destination. Visitors can take pictures at the Maldives stand and upload to social media platforms with the hash tag #visitmaldives #ATMDubai to win instant gifts and at the same time experience the underwater beauty of the Maldives through VR Gears. The main focus for this year will be meeting with Airlines to identify joint marketing avenues which is mutual beneficial for the Airlines and for the Destination.



Arabian Travel Market held it first exhibition back in 1994. The fair has now grown over the years and is now recognized as the largest Travel and Trade Show in the Middle East region. Arabian Travel Market and ATM now attracts over 30,000 trade visitor to the show. Major industry stakeholders from the region and from all over world conduct business during the 4 days of exhibition.

Apart from usual business meetings, special events have been organized during ATM this year by the orgnisers which includes Speed Networking, Bloggers Speed Networking and ATM Roundtable for the participants to make the most of the event.

The Middle East region especially the United Arab Emirate and Saudi Arabia market holds much potential. In the 2016 a total of the 51,330 tourists from the region visited Maldives. This was a growth of 22.3 percent compared to arrivals in 2015. By February 2017 a total of 7,350 tourists from the region spent their holiday in Maldives which is a growth 3.9 percent compared to the same period of 2016.

Middle East is already the most well connected region to the Maldives. Daily flights from the major regional carriers direct to the destination. Hence, with the efforts in ATM the Middle East Market is expected to perform well in 2017.

China's B2B Fair COTTM 2k17 || Maldives exposes the Sunny Side of Life

Maldives is showcased colorfully at China’s number one B2B Fair, China Outbound Travel & Tourism  Market 2017 (COTTM) in Beijing, China. Maldives will be represented at a 102sqm stand  from 29- 31 March along with 37 participants from 18 companies of Maldives Tourism Industry.

  With a newly designed stand showcasing the  unique tourism products with colorful pictures, the stand consists of 19 counters, eight private meeting tables and five floating tables.

This year, various activities are held at the Maldives stand for the visitors attending the Maldives stand to experience a bit of the Sunny side of life. These include calligraphy, where names of visitors attending the stand are written in Maldivian language (Dhivehi) unique to the Maldives. Visitors can also experience underwater beauty of Maldives through a virtual reality headset. Moreover visitors can pose for pictures near the photo booth placed at the stand, using frame board and post it on social media to win a surprise gift.

During the three-day exhibition, the Maldives delegation will meet with travel industry professionals and discuss potential future collaborations to promote Maldives in China. New tourism developments taking place in 2017 will also be shared with the media during the events. The 2016 edition of COTTM saw 400 exhibitors representing 65 countries reflecting a truly global reach.

The Chinese Outbound Market has recordedly exceeded by 100 million outbound trips a year, which puts travel expenditure in excess of $128 billion in 2016 according to China Tourism Academy.  In 2016, the Maldives welcomed 324,326 visitors from China which represented 25.2% of total visitor arrivals during the year. China has been the No.1 source market for the Maldives for the past 7 years and will continue to play an important role in the Maldives travel industry. Therefore COTTM is the perfect platform to display Maldives vacation products to a prime audience.