Malé, Maldives – Visit Maldives has planned to initiate a marketing campaign with Al Rais within the same month, including online promotions, competition campaigns, holiday packages and other additional contributions.
Maldives continues the trend in 2021 as top travel destination for outbound travellers from UAE. Maldives was the most popular destination for the UAE citizens in 2020 with the Maldives immigration recording 6,000 Emirati visitors since the borders of Maldives reopened on 15 July 2020 till the end of the year.
In addition, Emirates Airline is the airline that brought the highest number of passengers to the Maldives out of the international airlines currently operating to the Maldives as of January 2021.
One of the top Maldivian holiday sellers in the region, Al Rais Travel & Shipping is also among the largest independent travel agencies operating in the UAE since 1977.
With a joint audience of more than 50,000 Instagram, Twitter and Facebook followers, the planned promotional activities on social media will increase awareness among Emiratis about the Maldives as a safe and desired travel destination.
In 2020, 26,288 tourists visited Maldives from the Middle Eastern market which represents a considerable drop from 2019’s value of 60,003 due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
However, core markets from the region were among the leading arrivals to the Maldives post the lockdown period and continue to grow stronger day by day. As the Maldives achieves the remarkable milestone of receiving 500,000 tourists amidst an ongoing pandemic last year, the goal of reaching pre-pandemic arrival numbers from the Middle East shows consistent potential.
Maldives has witnessed record-breaking arrival figures in 2021 so far with an arrival figure of over 100,000 in March alone. As of 13th April 2021, Maldives has welcomed a total of 339,962 visitors.
Maldives reopened its borders for tourists of all nationalities on 15th July 2020, with rigorous procedures in place to ensure the safety of tourists and tourism workers.
Tourists are required to fill an online health declaration form within 24 hours prior to their departure, as well as have a negative PCR test result, conducted 96 hours prior to their departure.
On 1st February 2021, Maldives initiated the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, and the government aims to provide free COVID-19 vaccine to all citizens and residents, regardless of their documentation status, of Maldives in the upcoming months. The Ministry of Tourism also launched an initiative to vaccinate people in the tourism sector to develop an even safer environment for workers and visitors.
As of 31st March, 237,716 people have received the vaccine including 17,516 front-liner workers in the tourism industry. The initiation of the vaccination drive is bound to offer hope to the local population, as well as ensure the safety of tourists. The Maldives aims to be a safe destination for travellers through protective measures and vaccinations.
