Outdoor ad campaign kicks off in Italy to increase Maldives’ brand presence

Visit Maldives has launched an outdoor advertising campaign with Mediamond in Italy, aimed at increasing Maldives’ brand presence.

The joint campaign between Visit Maldives and Mediamond will be held in two phases, for three weeks in December 2021 and one week in January 2022.

Mediamond is Italy's leading editorial content digital sales house thanks to the joint strength of Mediaset - the first Italian media group, and Mondadori - the leading magazines publishing house. Their portfolio consists of over 70 media brands among the most important on the Italian scene, names known and loved by the public, able to naturally intertwine the products with the editorial fabric and to emphasize the affinities and values that the products represent.

They have leading numbers in print, web, mobile, radio and digital out of home to ensure the visibility necessary to make advertising effective.

According to Visit Maldives, the new campaign aims to further promote Maldives as a safe haven, increase brand presence and a greater degree of affinity with Maldives amongst Italians, in order to re-establish Maldives as top of mind destination as they book winter holidays.

Under the campaign, digital advertising of Maldives will be displayed in six strategic areas in Milan.

Visit Maldives said it hopes to create awareness on different segments of tourism in Maldives including romance, wellness, luxury, diving and watersports, and maintain a strong market presence at a time other island destinations have also become open to Italian travelers.

The campaign is held in line with Visit Maldives’ marketing strategy for the Italian market, aiming to promote the destination as a safe haven for Italian tourists. The campaign will promote the Maldivian resorts, hotels, guesthouses and liveaboards, along with experiences unique to the Maldives to Italian travel trade and tourists.

The campaign is expected to increase future bookings and arrivals from the Italian market, said Visit Maldives.

Visit Maldives has held several activities targeting the Italian market this year, including a campaign with Welcome Travels, campaign with Easy Market and BIT Milan. Ongoing activities for the Italian market by Visit Maldives includes a joint campaign with Alpitour, an E-Learning campaign and a joint campaign with Bluvacanze. Future activities planned ahead for this market include a campaign with Lonely Planet.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy ranked as the fourth top source market for tourist arrivals to Maldives with 46,690 arrivals.

 Since the pandemic, the arrivals from the market declined drastically due to travel restrictions and measures taken across the globe. The Italian government established a travel corridor with tourist destinations including Maldives on September 29, allowing Italians to travel to Maldives without quarantine-on-arrival upon returning to Italy.

Maldives has welcomed over 1,060,004 tourists this year, including 12,633 tourists from Italy.

Visit Maldives said it hopes to achieve pre-pandemic arrivals from the Italian market by holding promotional and marketing activities and position Maldives as the top destination of choice for Italian travelers as borders are now reopening for leisure travel.