Minister: Cost-efficient strategies planned for marketing tourism

Minister of Tourism, Moosa Zameer commented the government planned to implement cost-efficient strategies to market Maldivian tourism industry the coming year, to produce optimum profit.

The comment comes after tourism industry stakeholders such as Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) and Liveaboard Association expressed concern over the low tourism marketing budget for 2017.

Speaking to the press last Tuesday, Minister Zameer said the government’s tourism marketing strategy for 2017 was cost-efficiency in order to produce optimum profit from promotional activities.

It includes the destination guide, which Minister Zameer said will henceforth will produce an income of MVR 700,000.

“The current plan is to increase cost-efficiency, and carry it out at a lower cost. The objective is to generate income. There are promotions that can generate income, like the destination guide which I mentioned before,” he said.

Minister Zameer provide assurance that the strategies had been formulated in light of expert opinions.

He said Maldives will be participating in 14 tourism trade fairs in 2017 – four of them in January. He noted due to shift in trends, the government relied more on online and digital marketing than trade fairs to promote Maldivian tourism.

He said digital marketing proved more effective.