World Travel Market 2024 gave me my annual flesh-and-blood dose of Maldives meeting with so many of the movers and shakers of the Maldives travel sector. I meet new people who have never heard of Maldives Complete (especially the new appointments in the corporate properties) and well as longstanding comrades (like Aminath Hudha, the first Maldivian in the industry to support me – see photo above).
I also caught up with folks from properties I’ve visited, eg. Emerald, Emerald Faarufushi, Sun Siyam, Nika, Centara Ras Fushi. But I also get to meet new people from properties I haven’t visited, eg. NOOE, JW Marriott, Furaveri, Barcelo, Westin, Alila Kothaifaru, Fushifaru, Le Meridien, Drift Thelu Veliga, Plumeria. And especially helpful is meeting people from the brand new resorts coming soon – eg. NH Collection, Avani+, Centara Lagoon, Ananea Madivaru.
I met industry players like Maldives.com, Paula from Magic of Maldives agency, and even Igrahim Shiuree the new CEO of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relationship Corporation. And I uncovered about a dozen new “Best of the Maldives” pieces featuring either new distinctions or ones I hadn’t yet heard about (stay tuned)