Business

Maldives travel agent body targets 100k India tourists

Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) has set sights on luring 100,000 tourists from neighbors India this year by launching several initiatives to achieve the target.

MATATO said 83,019 Indian tourists visited the luxury island destination last year which was a 14 percent increase. So MATATO has begun several new initiatives to boost that figure this year.

The association president Abdulla Giyas lauded the support from the tourism industry in its efforts to boost Indian tourist arrivals.

"We've been receiving great support from the industry. We're also ready to work with the government in this initiative," Giyas said.

MATATO said the ever improving arrival numbers from India was down to significant promotion efforts in the past few years.

The association believes several road shows and travel fairs scheduled to be held in various cities across India in collaboration with Travel Agent Federation of India (TAFI) would help expose Maldives tourism to India even further.