Travel Trade Fair 2018 (TTM 2018), a six-day, multi-event trade fair organized by Maldives Getaways was launched at Bandos Maldives today. Minister of Economic Development, Mr. Mohamed Saeed attended the event as Chief Guest and inaugurated the event. The Chief Executive Officer of Maldives Getaways, Dr. Hussain Sunny Umar, provided the opening remarks at the event. During the Economic Minister’s speech, he spoke about the importance of such an event to the country and praised the effort Maldives Getaways had put into organizing the event. The Secretary General of Maldives Association of Tourism Industry, Mr. Ahmed Nazeer also attended the event and gave the industry keynote. President of Maldives Privatization and Corporatization Board, Mr. Mohamed Nizar participated in one of the panel discussions as well.

Mr. Ibrahim Ziyath, CEO of Maldives Transport and Contracting Company commended Maldives Getaways on successfully organizing the event on such a grand scale and highlighted the long-standing relationship between MTCC and Maldives Getaways. In addition to the speech by the guest of honor, Mr. Raufuddeen Saeed, Sub Inspector of Police addressed the attendees on tourist safety in the Maldives. Dr. Marcus Lee, Chairman of Association of SME Business Owners (ICIF) spoke about turnaround strategy to increase Chinese visitors, which is a major market for the Maldives tourism industry.

The Summit then progressed to four distinct Panel Discussions covering an array of topics ranging from Growth of Airport and Airlines, Government and National Strategies to Boost Tourism in the Maldives, Hotel Revenue and Automation, and Sustainable Tourism Development. The panelists included renowned figures such as Dr. Ahmed Salih, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Tourism; Mohamed Shahid, Managing Director of MITDC; General Manager of Maldives Ports Limited; Mr. Lionnel Maugis, Chief Development Officer, MACL; Shubham Moondhara, Manager of Corporate Strategy & Business Development, TMA; Sheeraz Rasheed, Seaplane Manager, Maldivian and Abdul Hameed Abdul Ghafoor, Managing Director, All H Maldives (ATSC Agents for AirAsia in Maldives). Panelists further included Graeme D’Arcy Ryan, Hotel Area Manager, Booking.com; Najib Khan, CEO, Ooredoo Maldives, Anil Kumar Prasanna, Co-Founder & CEO of AxisRooms, Savi Godakanda, Expedia; Juergen Steinemetz, Chairman ICPT and Publisher, eTurboNews; Feizal Samath, Correspondent, TTG Asia; and Daksh Sharma, Co-Founder and Managing Director, TravHQ Media.

TTM is an amalgamation of several components. This year’s TTM features a brand-new component, targeted solely towards the suppliers’ side of the industry, Maldives Supplier Expo. This is the very first expo of it’s kind, where several key decision makers from the resorts, including Head Chefs, Purchasing Managers, Director of Finance, Procurement Managers and Directors of Engineering will have the opportunity to network with leading suppliers, locally as well as internationally. In addition, TTM will be hosting the Gala Night Dinner at Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi, allowing a more relaxed setting outside of the normal corporate offices where industry professionals will be able to network and share their experiences with other professionals.

Both local and international sponsors contributed to the success of TTM. Gold Partners for the event are Ooredoo Maldives, Allied Insurance, Al Shaali Marine and Fuel Supply Maldives. M7 Print, Laniakea Tech, State Trading Organization and Linkserve joined as Silver Partners. Lastly, TTM is covered by both local and international media. Locally, AVAS media, PSM, Maldives Insider and Corporate Maldives, while TTG Asia, TravHQ, TTN, TTJ, eTN and World of Tourism covered the event internationally.

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Over 100 resorts/hotel properties in the Maldives have confirmed their participation in the 2nd edition of Travel Trade Show of Maldives 2018. TTM is scheduled to be held at Dharubaaruge, Male’ Maldives from the 1st to 3rd of May 2018. It is expected that along with over 140 resorts/hotels properties, 200 international buyers/media will attend the show.

Premium Exhibitors include Adaaran Resorts, Angiri Resorts, Crown & Champa Resorts, Bandos Maldives & Villa Hotels & Resorts Maldives. TTM Gala night which will be held at Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi will host TTM Awards on the 2nd of May 2018. TTM will also host 2nd Hotelier Summit of the Maldives targeting the Hotel investors, leading hotel owners, operators, developers, architects, interior designers, consultants.

TTM will host 2nd “Hotelier Summit Maldives” which will offer a solution-oriented platform that facilitates face-to-face meetings, networking activities, and information exchange amongst the most elite assemblage of hotel owners and general managers. A total of 4 panels is scheduled to take place at the summit in which more than 150 hotel owners, general managers from resorts and hotels of Maldives is set to take part. Various topics are set to be discussed that are significant to the Maldivian tourism industry.

TTM 2018 will hold the first Maldives Supplier Expo. It is the only event, where exhibiting companies can expect to meet key decision makers, engineering directors and procurement manager from all over the Maldives. A total of 1000+ key decision makers and purchasing chiefs from over 150 resorts plus leading companies of Maldives are expected to pass through the doors of Maldives Supplier Expo to visit and network with the exhibitors.

TTM 2018 Gala Night is set to be held on the 2nd of May 2018 from 6 pm to 11 pm at Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi. The Gala event will feature a classy dinner with rich and exotic Maldivian tastes, live music by leading artists the opportunity to network with the highest executives, decision-makers and market shapers of the industry.

The 2nd “Tourism Career Fair” will be held during TTM at Dharubaaruge on 3rd of May 2018. Much like last year, the career fair is a great opportunity for students/professionals to meet and network with tourism industry representatives in the Maldives. The career fair will be held from 20:00 – 23:00 at Dharubaaruge, Male’ Maldives.

TTM aims to facilitate the tourism industry of Maldives to reach the ultimate target of 2 million tourists with over USD 3.5 billion in receipts by the end of 2020. More than 300 hoteliers, suppliers, related industries and travel industry professionals from the Maldives and abroad are expected to visit TTM to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends in the Maldives.

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A specialized conference management software has been launched for the first ever Maldives Supplier Expo 2018 as part of the 2nd edition of the International Travel Trade Show of Maldives (TTM).

This software, which innovates meetings and scheduling as never seen before in the country, allows suppliers and visitors to request, accept and schedule meetings with an easy to navigate user-friendly portal available on the official TTM website.

The software was created by Laniakea Tech, the leading tech firm in the Maldives, to be equal to conference managers used at the largest international events throughout the world. Suppliers can be accessed from anywhere via the official TTM website and let Suppliers upload their profile with images that can be viewed by resorts and its relevant departments. Users can message each other through the portal to set up meetings and schedule networking sessions. Suppliers would allow users to set up to a maximum of 50 meetings within the 2 days, the maximum amount of constructive meetings and networking opportunities that produce results!

Maldives Supplier Expo is an invitation-only event, where exhibiting companies can expect to meet key decision makers including engineering directors, procurement managers and Chief Financial Officers from all over the Maldives. Maldives Supplier Expo is first of its kind, which will be held during TTM 2018 from 2 – 3 May 2018. A total of 1000+ key decision makers and purchasing chiefs from over 150 resorts plus leading companies of Maldives are expected to pass through the doors of Maldives Supplier Expo to visit and network with the exhibitors of Maldives Suppliers Expo.

Also watch our interview with Fraath Mohamed, Chief Operating Officer, Maldives Getaways on the upcoming leg of TTM Maldives.

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The second edition of Maldives Getaways’ international travel trade show, the Travel Trade Maldives (TTM), is scheduled to be held from May 1-3, 2018. This is the only platform that connects the travel trade community of the Maldives to a global network of travel professionals from resort properties and international trade agencies, including leading travel operators and travel agents, media partners, international airlines and key industry stakeholders.

Maldives Getaways concluded its first-ever TTM event on July 12th and 13th this year, which saw the travel trade community of the Maldives connect with the local and global network of travel trade professionals.The event started with the first ever Hotelier Summit with over 200 tourism professionals in attendance, including resort and hotel general managers, resident managers, key hotel owners, international travel trade stakeholders and travel industry professionals. A total of four panels took place at the summit that saw participation of more than 80 general managers from resorts and hotels across Maldives. More than 3,000 scheduled meetings took place over the period of two days with over US$ 1 billion worth of business contracts being discussed.

As part of the event this year, the Maldives Dive Expo has also been announced for 2nd and 3rd May, 2018. The Expo aims to create a world-class platform for industry players to better engage with each other, connect with suppliers and dive operators, along with the existing dive schools. Maldives Dive Expo is set to see over 50 international media and dive specialized operators from all across the globe. The Dive Expo compliments the Divemv magazine and would help promote the Maldives tourism industry as a diving destination.

Additionally, the TTM Supplier Expo will also be held as part of the TTM 2018, where industry players will engage and connect with close to 50 international and local tourism-related suppliers. This would be a complete event that promotes the entire value chain, capitalizing on the supplier side while promoting the dynamism of Maldivian demand worldwide.

The TTM 2018 event has been extended to a 3-day event to increase the number of pre-scheduled meetings among exhibitors and agents alike. More than 150 properties from Maldives are expected to participate, while over 200 operators, agents and media are expected to be in Maldives for this event.

For a list of other travel events for 2018, read here.

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