Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation has revealed its efforts to enter MICE, Cultural and Sports Tourism. In a press event held Thursday (29 August 2019) the Managing Director of MMPRC Thoyyib Mohamed said the corporation believes it is time to diversify Maldives tourism to more niche markets.
“We have seen temporary efforts in marketing Maldives to several niche markets in the past; without a significant result. Therefore I believe we need a good understanding of niche marketing and even better plans to achieve results. Now we are in the process of creating a marketing plan to reach several niche markets in a sustainable manner. They include MICE, Cultural and Sports Tourism. We are working with a consultant to formulate these strategies for the year 2020.” He said, continuing to give statistics on tourism growth this year and MMPRC’s marketing activities.
By the end of August 2019, MMPR has marketed the products of Maldives tourism at 15 fairs in 12 markets and 5 roadshows in 13 markets. Furthermore, 12 joint promotion programs, 2 global campaigns and several foreign media fam trips have been conducted with great success. In addition to these activities, 11 Public Relations firms are constantly promoting Maldives to their respective markets.
Mr. Thoyyib Mohamed said that MMPRC attributes this growth to the efforts of tourism industry properties, political stability and the cooperative marketing efforts. He concluded the press conference answering questions from the media regarding several functions of MMPRC. One of the questions posed by the press was MMPRC’s role in marketing the affordable products of tourism. Mr. Thoyyib Mohamed responded by saying that it is one of the focus areas MMPRC has worked on since the inauguration of the new government.
“It is in government’s best interest to promote the Local Island Tourism and that’s precisely what we have done. We have conducted fruitful marketing seminars for the local island tourism businesses. We have reduced the participation cost for the smaller businesses and even waived off some fees to encourage their participation.” He said while announcing the upcoming Tourism Marketeers Evening which gathers industry professionals for exchange of ideas for marketing activities for 2020.
