Maldives will be promoting the Colorful Side of Life at BOOT Fair from 21st to 29thJanuary 2017. The venue for this 9-day event is the Messe Düsseldorf, Germany. The head of delegation is the Acting Managing Director of Maldives Marketing and Public Relation Corporation, Mr. Haris Mohamed. 14 Participants from 6 different companies from the Maldivian tourism industry have travelled to Dusseldorf for the exhibition.
BOOT Fair is an annual event which is targeted for watersports and dive enthusiasts. This annually held event is one of the leading Dive and watersports Fairs of the world. In 2015 more than 200,000 visitors from 51 different countries visited the show. A wide range of exhibitors showcase their products and service through this platform. Luxury Yachts, diving equipment, water sports equipment and dive destinations are all part of this colorful 9 day event. 
To enhance the experience to the visitor, BOOT 2017 has introduced new exciting exhibits like the “The Wave”, the first indoor deepwater wave. The beach fashion Hall has been transformed to create a more realistic beach ambience. A virtual river boat simulator will also be featured this year, visitors can taste what it is like to cruise on the Rhine River via this simulator. All this new exiting upgrades to the fair is expected to attract more visitors to BOOT 2017.
With 99% water and the unique underwater beauty, Maldives has traditionally been a dive destination and continues to attract divers every year. Based on the preliminary findings of the Maldives Visitor Survey conducted in September 2016 percent of the tourists were motivated to visit Maldives because of its underwater Beauty. As this is an important aspect of the destination, promoting our underwater beauty is essential and BOOT fair is an ideal platform to reach this segment.
In 2015, there were 670,000 divers in Germany which has been growing every year. Germany is currently the second largest source market for the Maldivian Tourism industry. Boot will help us reach to this niche segment of the German market. Last year a total of 106,132 Germans choose Maldives for their vacation. Compared to 2015 the market has shown a steady growth of 1.2 %.
