Fly direct on Mumbai-male route

Despite being a late entrant to tap the Indian outbound tourism sector, Maldives Tourism is positive to receive an increased number of Indian arrivals with a direct connection on the Mumbai-male route starting from November 15, 2012.

TT BUREAU With

five flights a week on Thiruvananthapuram-Male route, Maldivan Airlines is starting direct connections on Mumbai-Male route starting November 15 with thrice a week service. Depending on the demand, the frequency might go up to five times a week.

According to Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Gafoor, Minister for Tourism, Arts & Culture, Maldives Government; China is one of the largest tourism revenue generator for Maldives. However, India is a growing economy with a huge middle income segment and highend travel market. He said,

“India is an important market we have marked and promoting Maldives here will certainly be on a high priority.

We have to make Maldives attractive to the people of India so that they can come for short visits, holidays, MICE, honeymoon, etc.”

Revealing details about opening an office in India, Gafoor further informed, “Yes, we will be starting our Tourism Board Office in India but that will not happen overnight. We are in the process of charting out our plans and once the plan is in place, we will be able to com- municate more on this.” The destination caters to 11,500 tourists in 2011 and with the soon-to-be launched direct services to Mumbai and New Delhi, it is positive to welcome 30,000 Indians in 2013.

The Maldivian Government is in process of finalising the fourth Tourism Master Plan that will give the tourism planners roadmap and guidelines on tapping outbound tourism from its target markets. At the moment, the promotional and marketing strategy encompasses visibility through PR and through trade partners in India. Going forward, Maldives Tourism would extend it to TV channels, promotional seminars and industry events, informed Gafoor. He said, “We are also looking at Bollywood as a marketing tool in India as it is immensely popular in Madives. As a nation which is tourism friendly, we are developing one island to be a studio for production work and all paraphernalia related to cinema which will appeal to all film makers.”