Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has said that Visit Maldives Year 2016 target would be reached now that Maldivian had started flights to Fuzhou, China.
Speaking to reporters at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) on Wednesday, Acting Managing Director of MMPRC Haris Mohamed said that marketing campaigns to promote Maldives tourism industry were ongoing at full-swing at different parts of the world.
Haris said that China played the biggest part in income generated through Maldivian tourism industry, and that direct flights to an additional Chinese city would boost tourist arrival rates.
“I believe that the new flights Maldivian started today will help a lot in reaching the target. From what I hear, 1,100 tourists come to Maldives each week in Maldivian’s flights from China alone,” said Haris.
Chinese ambassador to Maldives Wang Fukang said that 500,000 Chinese tourists would be visiting Maldives this year.
Therefore, a boost in number of European tourists to the country would help in reaching the target of 1.5 million tourists.