Within weeks after the lockdown was eased last May, social media networks in India were swamped with glamourous pictures of Indian celebrities holidaying on the scenic waters of Maldives. One of the first destinations to reopen to Indian tourists, the country has become a major draw in India and Maldives Tourism hopes to capitalise on this and reinforce India’s position as a key player in Maldivian tourism.

After a year of complete closure, if there is one international destination that has remained a favourite for many Indian it is Maldives. Be it celebrities, honeymooners or families, people across India waiting for a trip to take a break from the lockdown, all turned towards one destination, Maldives.

That is the primary reason why India has emerged as the top source market for Maldives with visitors from the country surpassing visitors from other countries. As per Maldives tourism ministry data, as of March 17, 2021 Maldives welcomed a total of 243,979 travellers with 57,965 from India, making India the top source market for tourism in the Maldives. Besides, Maldives is also focusing on repeat tourists, says tourism minister Abdulla Mausoom. “Indian market is relatively new to Maldives, but it is increasing. Even if you look at the Bollywood stars there are many who go there over and over again. There are many Europeans who are repeat visitors. Last week we welcomed somebody who has been to Maldives 60 times and someone who has come for 63 times. So they come here again and again,” Mausoom tells India Outbound.

To promote the destination actively in the Indian market, Visit Maldives organised its very first offline events in India on March 22, 2021 followed by a Roadshow in Delhi. The Maldivian delegation for the events in India was led by minister of tourism Mausoom who was accompanied by Thoyyib Mohamed, managing director of Visit Maldives and Hussain Niyaz, high commissioner of Maldives to India, besides nearly a dozen private sector players from tourism industry in the archipelago.

The delegation talked of the success story of Maldives Tourism during the pandemic, India becoming the top source market to Maldives and the marketing plan for India as well as the travel bubble between India and Maldives. Updates on the vaccination programme and important information and updates for travellers were also shared with the media.

Despite the second wave of pandemic in India, the delegation said that they hoped with rising vaccinations they will reach the pre pandemic figures.

“Things keep changing, the travel trends keep changing, the forecasts keep changing. Nobody forecasted last year to stay closed. I think all the research and forecast shows there is potential for travellers. There is a great demand for people to travel abroad. We are anticipating pre-pandemic travel figures which is 1.7 million but you never know. It is a difficult time but what we are seeing is very interesting travel changes. Traditionally, we had not seen so much of travel happening from Russian speaking countries. But besides Indian arrivals, now we have seen really good number of visitors from Russia and other Russian speaking countries. Hopefully we will be exceeding our estimates. As the world is moving towards vaccination, we are hoping it will be more than what we are expecting,” Thoyyib Mohamed tells India Outbound.

The press conference was followed by the Maldives Roadshow ‘Connect with Maldives, Your Safe Haven’ targeting top travel trade of India. At the roadshow, 11 Maldivian companies connected with about 100 key travel trade partners from the Indian market to discuss potential business.

There are several activities ongoing and planned for the Indian market to promote Maldives as a safe haven due to the stringent measures in place and naturally socially distanced islands. Visit Maldives is currently collaborating with WeddingSutra, Thomas Cook, and MakeMyTrip.

Talking about the wedding market that is a big pull among the Indian tourists, tourism minister Mausoom tells India Outbound, “At the moment we are doing ceremonial Maldivian weddings for tourists as it is much easier and less complicated. It gives you the same feeling and same environment. Those who wish to experience the Maldivian ceremony, that is extremely popular among European tourists. We hope that over the time, eventually, because Indian weddings are really big and it goes on for number of days, I think that is something we have to consider and bring about changes to our regulation.”

Mausoom adds that the segments of Indian outbound tourism that look promising to him are honeymooners, families and the younger generations. “It is honeymoon and people who will have their honeymoon. Also equally we have started to get family tourists from India. I think they have very high anticipation. I think most of the Indians, they have travelled the world already, and now they want to relax a bit. Also, as lots of young people are very affluent. They have got good money to spend and they like to be in Maldives and we have got everything to offer. I think the small hotels will be very attractive in Maldives. With the international airport in the Northern Atoll that I talked about, we are going to extend the airport. When we extend it we will be able to have more flights. We even have discussed the possibility of passenger ferry, like the kind of cruise tourism from Kochi to Maldives. It is only 720 km, shorter than the length of the Maldives. So it’s very near. We are looking at the opportunity and I think all the resorts now they have their little vegetarian corner.”