Press Release on the Webinar 'India Maldives Travel Connect' organised by HCI, Male' between Travel Associations of India and Maldives - October 13, 2020 |
An ‘India Maldives Travel Connect’ webinar was organised by High Commission of India, Male’ on 13 October, 2020 in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism. The Webinar was attended by representatives from Travel Associations of India and Maldives namely Association of Travel Agents (ATA), Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO), Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). 2. High Commissioner of India Shri Sunjay Sudhir, Minister of Tourism, Dr. Abdulla Mausoom and MD of Maldives Marketing & Public Relation Corporation (MMPRC), Mr. Thoyyib Mohamed spoke at the beginning of the Webinar. 3. In 2019, India grew from fifth to the second largest tourism market for the Maldives (a 100% growth over 2018, with 167,000 tourist arrivals). However, due to COVID-19 number of tourists declined significantly this year. India and Maldives have operationalised an air travel bubble since August 2020 to strengthen tourism linkages. Presently, there are five flights per week between the two countries including Air India, Maldivian Airlines and Indigo Airlines. Indigo will start two flights per week from Mumbai to Male from mid-October. 4. The Maldivian economy - driven almost 75% by tourism has suffered a dip in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar is an effort to connect both sides for increase the inflow of tourists from India to Maldives and strengthen people-to-people contacts for mutual prosperity.
13 October, 2020 |
High Commission of India Male, Maldives |