In a bid to stop the slide in tourist arrivals from China, US and France, government Tuesday announced new plans to promote the Maldives in the three countries.
Tourism minister Moosa Zameer told Avas on Tuesday that the government is looking to boost efforts to maintain the recent hike in tourist arrivals.
If not for the slide in the Chinese market, Maldives would have succeeded in meeting its tourist arrival target this year, minister highlighted.
Minister said the government had decided to consult relevant tourism bodies in the country to identify the reason behind the slide in certain markets.
Government had given special emphasis to China and sought the expertise of a consultant to address the continued slide in the Chinese market, Zameer added.
"We will give priority to the Chinese market in 2017. The Chinese market currently has a negative growth of 10 percent," he explained.
"We've hired a Chinese consultant to help us draft our strategy for next year. We saw a boost in the Chinese market in the year the Chinese premier made the state visit to Maldives. So we will now look at new ways in which we can promote the Maldives in China."
In addition to China, arrivals from France and Kuwait had also shown a similar trend in the recent past.
"In order to arrest the slide in the France market, we've sought the help of a French consultant to assist in our efforts to come up with new ways to promote us. We have to do a lot of things. We need to participate in more fairs. We need to activate social media. Hold more road shows. We've planned a lot of such activities," minister detailed.
