Three Major Destination Marketing Campaigns by Visit Maldives Concludes
Thursday 18th of March 2021
Have times been different, the Maldives would have successfully welcomed a record-breaking number of tourists into the destination in the year 2020. However, circumstances quickly took a toll when the first COVID19 case was identified in the country forcing the whole nation to an emergency shut down. In the past year, Visit Maldives had to innovate, re-strategize and refocus their marketing efforts on to new platforms to assure aspiring travelers that Maldives will always be welcoming them to the pristine shores with utmost safety.
Along those lines, Visit Maldives has recently concluded three marketing campaigns with mega players in the travel industry.
Combined marketing campaign with Travelata, Sletat Russia, Squizz
In collaboration with three high-profile travel agencies in Rusia - Travelata, Sletat Russia and Squizz - Visit Maldives initiated a campaign to reach over 300 stakeholders of the tourism industry and update them on the latest destination news on Maldives over a course of 3 webinars.
Travelata succeeded as a profitable partner who booked over 6,133 travel packages to Maldives during the period of September to November 2020 through their special platform for the campaign. The curated landing page provided up-to-date information about Maldives. Moreover, a whopping total of 412,329 users on the platform received newsletters containing information and inspiration to visit the safe haven of Maldives.
Sletat Russia conducted webinars training travel agents on the destination at the end of which, Squizz compiled a questionnaire on the different themes about new safety rules, destination overview, experiences, and activities in the Maldives. A total of 500 questionnaires were received in the final stage whereas more than 2500 travel agents took part in the webinars.
Marketing campaign with Profi+Travel’s E-Learning Platform
The Russian-based travel agency Profi+Travel has been conducting marketing campaigns with partners for over 2 decades now. In their collaboration with Visit Maldives, the agency’s E-Learning Platform was utilized to encourage tour operators in Russia and CIS Region to increase bookings to the Maldives.
They were educated through unique content tailored to explain Maldives tourism products, showcase tourist attractions, historical sites, culture and more and therefore assist over 9800 participating tour operators to choose the best travel option for their customers.
The campaign was made more enticing by awarding a certificate at the end of the course to those who proved their knowledge on Maldives. Agents who booked the highest number of holidaying customers to the destination, namely LLC, Kazan, London-Paris, Rostov-on-Don, PLANETA TRAVEL, Perm, received complimentary holidays sponsored by Furaveri Maldives, Paradise Island Resort and Grand Park Kodhipparu. The campaign yielded in 218 bookings in total.
3-month Marketing campaign with Skyscanner
Targeting the top 3 pre-pandemic markets of Italy, UK and Russia, Visit Maldives conducted a campaign in collaboration with the global travel marketplace giant Skyscanner.
Dedicated Visit Maldives pages were deployed on Skyscanner platforms in the native languages of the markets, containing content created to showcase different experiences for tourists and show them that Maldives is unique in its own ways compared to the rest of the world. Promotional ads were also placed in prominent slots on the Skyscanner platforms to capitalize on travel intent to the Maldives and maximize the reach of content.
Reaching an estimated 9.6 million people over a span of three months, a major spike in searches highlighting underlying demand to travel to Maldives was observed. This proves that the destination presence among these markets were further strangthened by this campaign.
Photos: Visit Maldives on social media