Maldives kicks off marketing campaign with Singapore Airlines for USA market

20 July, 2022

Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC / Visit Maldives) has kicked off a destination visibility campaign with Singapore Airlines (SIA) targeting the United States market. The joint campaign between Visit Maldives and SIA will be conducted from July – August 2022.

Based at Singapore International Changi Airport, Singapore Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world, flying to more than 62 destinations in 32 countries and offering a variety of classes. SIA’s current market share from USA’s Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport to Velana International Airport is 13%. This is the 4th largest carrier in terms of market share to the Maldives.

The joint campaign between MMPRC and SIA USA will focus on driving conversion among in-market travel intenders, at key moments in the research and booking process. It will encourage travel to the Maldives with the comfort of SIA’s products and services, plus enhanced health and safety measures with #SIACares.

During this campaign, the websites and social media accounts of Expedia, Skyscanner and Pinterest will be used to increase destination visibility for the Maldives by placing advertisements and redirecting potential travellers to book flights to the Maldives via SIA. The campaign will help tap into audiences of travel-intenders and utilise their granular targeting capabilities to influence and convert customers from Expedia. It will also use Skyscanner for high-impact placements and effective formats to reach travellers and provide relevant contextual information and recommendations in the exploring, planning and purchase stages. Furthermore, during the joint campaign, qualified traffic would be sent to the SIA site through Pinterest in order to increase bookings.

The campaign is conducted as part of MMPRC’s strategy for the USA market to promote the Maldives on high-end channels, focused advertising and promotion of individual products and experiences. It is expected to increase future booking and arrivals and enable the Maldives to establish itself as a safe haven and a top-of-the-mind destination for travellers from the USA market.

So far this year, USA ranks as the 6th top source market to the Maldives with 41,943 tourists from this market as of 12th June 2022. This is 4.8% of the total 892,960 tourists who visited the Maldives during this period. MMPRC has held several activities to increase brand visibility, and destination momentum for the Maldives in the USA market. This includes a campaign with Worth Magazine, ATTA’s AdventureELEVATE 2022, a travel trade training webinar, and a campaign with Goway. Ongoing activities for this market include joint campaigns with ASTA and ID Travel Group and a Media Familiarisation trip. Many similar activities are in the pipeline for the rest of the year as well.

MMPRC carried out 260 different marketing activities in 22 global markets last year, including fairs, roadshows, familiarisation trips, marketing campaigns, webinars, and interviews. The greatest testament to the success of these activities came late last year, as the Maldives secured the title of ‘World’s Leading Destination’ (among several other accolades) at the 2021 World Travel Awards, globally recognised as the hallmark of industry excellence. This is the second consecutive year that the Maldives had successfully earned this prestigious title, a shining testimony of the trust placed in the ‘magic of Maldivian hospitality’ by travellers from all over the globe.