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1.5 million tourist arrival goal attainable by end of month: MMPRC

Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has stated that the government's tourist arrival goal for the year will be achieved by the end of November.

At the beginning of 2019, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih announced a target of record 1.5 million tourist visitors for the year.

The nation's tourism promotion company held a press conference Tuesday, and predicted that the target of 1.5 million tourist arrivals will be reached within the last week of November.

Managing Director of MMPRC, Thoyyib Mohamed said attaining the goal would be a grand success for the government, and revealed plans to celebrate the achievement elaborately in collaboration with private companies, the tourism ministry, and other relevant government ministries.

"I would say that that this is a tremendously successful year [in terms of tourist arrivals]. To reach President Solih's target a month prior to the year end will indeed be a record achievement, especially for the government. We are gearing up to grandly celebrate the achievement," Thoyyib said.

Thoyyib also spoke on some of the recent promotional activities conducted by the corporation and future plans. Noting that MMPRC did numerous work to advertise and gain exposure this year, Thoyyib said MMPRC would continue to work hard despite challenges faced.

The government this year increased MMPRC's promotional budget.

Some recent activities carried out by MMPRC include:

- Participating in 23 fairs from 21 world markets
- Hosting 33 road shows
- Bringing 16 international media groups to Maldives
- Providing PR representation in 11 countries
- Initiating five joint promotions with large international companies
- Closely worked with two embassies
- Carrying out guest house trainings
- Commencing a global campaign with BBC
- Initiating two tourism campaigns in Maldives
- Giving endorsements to 12 parties

MMPRC did not grant the opportunity for local journalists to cover these events. However, journalists from certain media houses were able to participate in recently concluded World Travel Market (WTM). While the corporation refrains from engaging with local journalists, several mediocre foreign columnist and writers were brought in to experience Maldives and write content based on their visit.