Visit Maldives successfully concludes WTM London 2021 with 58 industry partners. WTM London 2021 was held from 1st to 3rd November.
The World Travel Market London (WTM London) is one of the leading global events for the travel industry to meet industry professionals and conduct business deals. Through its industry networks and unrivalled global reach, WTM London creates personal and business opportunities, providing customers with quality contacts, content and communities. This year for the first time in history WTM is being held as a hybrid event and the physical fair is taking place after a year’s break due to the covid-19 situation in the UK.
A total of 102 representatives from 58 companies participated in the event along with Visit Maldives. The purpose of participating in this event was to connect and network with industry stakeholders, travel trade partners from the UK market and around the globe. Industry partners were expected to meet up to 150 industry stakeholders during the event.
Maldives was exhibited in a 609sqm stand space, one of the biggest stand spaces to be exhibited in recent times. This event assisted the Maldives in maintaining the destination presence as one of the safest destinations to travel, due to the unique geographical formation of the islands, allowing natural social distance for travellers. WTM is also a great platform to market resorts, hotels, guesthouses and liveaboards, and inform travel trade and travellers of the strict measures in place at these facilities, established to ensure the safety of travellers. Through the event, Visit Maldives informed travel agencies and tour operators of the latest destination information and travel guidelines.
During the event Visit, Maldives and industry partners conducted one-on-one meetings in person and virtually. It provided a platform to the stakeholders to promote individual products and properties. A press conference was also held by Managing Director and CEO of MMPRC, Thoyyib Mohamed, the Minister of Tourism, Dr Abdullah Mausoom and Ms Zuley Manik Executive Director of Sun Siyam Resorts on the second day of WTM. A special VIP event was held on the last day of the WTM London 2021 which was attended by his excellency, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Visit Maldives also held a Roadshow in the UK to promote MICE opportunities available in the destination after the conclusion of WTM London 2021.
In 2019 WTM was held with over 5,000 exhibitors and reached more than 51,000 visitors. A total of 935,129 business meetings were held during the WTM 2019. 3,000 members of the international media attend the event each year to report on the latest stories relating to the global travel trade industry.
The UK is the 8th top source market to the Maldives as per the most recent statistics. So far this year Maldives had welcomed over 1 million tourists to the country, out of which 2.6 percent, or 29,224 were from the UK. So far this year, Visit Maldives has held media interviews, beachcombers destination training, a global campaign with Skyscanner, a joint marketing campaign with TripAdvisor, Turquoise Holiday, a multi-media campaign with ABTA Magazine, digital marketing campaign with Expedia, participated in The National Wedding Show held in the UK. Upcoming activities for the UK market include joint marketing campaigns with British Airways, TV advertising and outdoor advertising campaigns.
Visit Maldives continues to hold several activities, including webinars, familiarization trips, joint marketing campaigns with local and international stakeholders, while also participating in major and minor fairs and exhibitions in order to increase arrivals and maintain destination presence across the globe. These activities are targeted towards the top, new and emerging markets as per our strategies.
