Maldives aims USD 5 bil revenues in 2025 following record-breaking 2024 arrivals

The Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC/Visit Maldives) has announced the ambitious target of generating USD 5 billion in tourism receipts for 2025 following a record-breaking year of tourist arrivals in 2024.

The announcement was made by Abdulla Ghiyas, the Chairperson of MMPRC, and Ibrahim Shiuree, the Managing Director and CEO of MMPRC at a press conference held on Sunday at MMPRC headquarters.

Maldives welcomed two million tourists in 2024, setting a new benchmark with record-breaking daily and monthly arrivals in February this year.

According to MMPRC, extensive marketing efforts by the tourism board helped catapult the arrivals, and the efforts included 23 fairs and roadshows, 15 impactful social media campaigns, and 23 engaging virtual events with the ‘Discover Maldives’ webinar series being the most notable of these.

Moreover, the Maldives also achieved its largest-ever representation this year at both the ITB Berlin 2024 and the ATM Dubai 2024 while the island nation also served as the host country sponsor at the ITB China and Shanghai for the first time. Maldives also launched ‘The World’s Biggest Giveaway 2025’ at the WTM London.

MMPRC hosted the inaugural Data Forum 2024, the largest of its kind in the SEA region, as well as the Tourism Symposium 2024 towards driving industry development and collective growth.

Besides this, the tourism board also signed key agreements with Fliggy, Weixin Pay, MATI, NHGAM, Maldives Immigration, Maldivian Airlines, and ADK Hospital as part of the efforts to enhance tourism segments and travel experiences in the tourism and ancillary sectors.

These efforts resulted in a 15% growth in tourism receipts in 2024 compared to the year before according to statistics from the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), while the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) recorded an 8 percent increase in tourism-related government tax revenues during the year.

Maldives also bagged the World’s Leading Destination for the fifth consecutive year at the WTM in 2024, and this year, it has been 11 years since the island nation has been achieving the 1 million annual tourist arrivals.

As part of further growth and tourism industry enhancement efforts, MMPRC had announced the “Visit Maldives Week” to be launched in key markets, which will feature a range of activities including media events, press breakfasts, seminars, networking evenings, food trucks, and innovative outdoor marketing initiatives. It added that under the initiative, focused campaigns will target major markets such as Germany, Dubai, India, and Russia.

MMPRC further said the overall goal for the upcoming year is to ensure consistent quarterly activity in the top 25 markets.