Visit Maldives Corporation (VMC) convened the third edition of its Quarterly Insights: Maldives Tourism Intelligence Briefing 2026 on 13 August at Barceló Nasandhura Malé, bringing together representatives from the tourism industry, government institutions, policymaking bodies and the media to review emerging tourism trends, examine visitor behaviour and connectivity, and discuss priorities supporting the continued development of the Maldives as one of the world’s leading tourism destinations.
The briefing provided an important forum for closer coordination between the Government and tourism industry at a time when the Maldives continues to strengthen its destination positioning, expand international market reach and prepare for the Visit Maldives Year 2027 campaign. Discussions focused on ensuring that tourism development and destination marketing remain responsive to changing traveller preferences, evolving international market conditions, air connectivity and new opportunities across established and emerging source markets.
Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Honourable Mohamed Ameen reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to the sustainable growth and continued development of the tourism industry, highlighting the importance placed on maintaining the Maldives’ global competitiveness while supporting the long-term resilience of the sector. Tourism remains one of the country’s most important economic industries, and the Government continues to prioritise policies and initiatives aimed at strengthening connectivity, supporting investment, enhancing the visitor experience and broadening the benefits generated by tourism.
VMC Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Ibrahim Shiuree highlighted the importance of ensuring that destination marketing strategies are supported by reliable evidence and current industry intelligence. He noted that tourism operates within a rapidly evolving global environment in which traveller behaviour, market conditions and international air connectivity can change significantly, requiring marketing strategies to remain responsive and adaptable.
“Tourism moves quickly. Traveller behaviour changes, market conditions shift, air connectivity evolves, and new opportunities emerge. Our marketing cannot operate in isolation from those realities. It must be informed by evidence, responsive to the industry, and able to adapt as conditions change,” Shiuree said.
A key component of the programme focused on understanding visitors to the Maldives and the factors influencing their travel decisions. Dr Simad Saeed, Lead Consultant for the Maldives Visitor Survey 2025 at CDE Consulting, presented findings covering visitor profiles, travel behaviour and preferences. The intelligence provides the tourism industry and destination marketing authorities with a clearer understanding of how different traveller segments engage with the Maldives and can assist in shaping future promotional strategies, products and experiences around evolving international demand.
Air connectivity was also given significant attention during the briefing. Nashaya Abdul Wahid, General Manager of the Air Service Department at Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), presented an overview of international connectivity, demand recovery and the future outlook. Reliable and expanding air access remains essential to the growth of the Maldives’ tourism sector, particularly as the country seeks to strengthen established markets while improving access from markets with further growth potential.
The Maldives’ tourism offering continues to benefit from its internationally recognised resort sector, which remains central to the destination’s appeal among global travellers. The country’s island-based tourism model offers visitors distinctive experiences combining private island environments, natural beauty, premium accommodation, marine attractions, high standards of hospitality and personalised services. Continued investment in resorts, tourism infrastructure and visitor experiences has supported the Maldives in maintaining a strong international tourism identity while allowing individual properties to develop products suited to different market segments.
Alongside the established resort sector, the Government and industry are increasingly focused on diversifying the tourism offering and ensuring that the country can respond effectively to changing travel preferences. Discussions during Quarterly Insights reflected the importance of maintaining high visitor experience standards while introducing greater diversity into the Maldives tourism portfolio, strengthening sustainability across tourism infrastructure and communities, and presenting a broader range of authentic Maldivian experiences to international audiences.
VMC also presented opportunities for greater participation by tourism businesses in the country’s destination marketing activities. Aazima Rasheed, Manager of Destination Marketing at VMC, outlined the corporation’s products, platforms and avenues through which industry partners can collaborate with Visit Maldives. The approach is intended to strengthen participation by tourism businesses and ensure that destination marketing activities represent the diversity of products and experiences available throughout the country.
Aminath Mohamed, Manager of Destination Marketing at VMC, provided an update on the Q2 Action Plan and outlined priorities for the coming months. The update demonstrated VMC’s continued efforts to align destination promotion with market intelligence, industry priorities and changing global tourism conditions while maintaining a coordinated national approach to promoting the Maldives.
Building on discussions from the previous Quarterly Insights session, VMC also presented an update on feedback received from tourism industry stakeholders. Recommendations submitted by the industry were categorised according to those already incorporated into ongoing activities, those being advanced for implementation and those remaining under consideration. The process further established Quarterly Insights as a two-way engagement platform through which tourism businesses and associations can contribute directly to discussions informing VMC’s future activities.
Stakeholder participation formed an important part of discussions surrounding the Visit Maldives Year 2027 Action Plan. Participants identified several priorities for consideration, including further diversification of the Maldives’ tourism offering, stronger sustainability measures across communities and tourism infrastructure, continued protection of visitor experience standards, development of more authentic and locally representative destination content, and increased engagement with international travel advisors.
Participants also identified the Commonwealth of Independent States, Central and Eastern European countries and Nordic markets as regions presenting further opportunities for tourism development. Greater engagement in these markets could support the Maldives’ strategy of maintaining a diversified international visitor base while creating additional opportunities for resorts, hotels, guesthouses, tour operators and other tourism businesses.
The briefing also featured the official reveal of “Islands Are Us” as the theme for Visit Maldives Year 2027. The theme reflects the distinctive island character that defines the Maldives and its tourism identity, placing the country’s islands, communities, landscapes and tourism experiences at the centre of its international destination narrative.
Representatives of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), National Hotels and Guesthouses Association of Maldives (NHGAM), National Boating Association of Maldives (NBAM), Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO), and Maldives Association of Yacht Agents (MAYA) joined VMC for the official reveal. Their participation demonstrated the broad industry involvement being pursued for Visit Maldives Year 2027 and the emphasis placed on developing the national campaign through cooperation between government institutions and private-sector stakeholders.
The programme concluded with remarks by VMC Chief Operating Officer Sabeeha Ahmed, following a comprehensive exchange of tourism intelligence, market perspectives and industry priorities.
Through its Quarterly Insights initiative, VMC continues to establish a regular mechanism for sharing tourism intelligence, gathering industry perspectives and strengthening coordination across the sector. The findings and recommendations arising from the Q3 briefing are expected to support upcoming destination marketing activities and contribute to the continued development of the Visit Maldives Year 2027 Action Plan.
The Government’s continued emphasis on evidence-based tourism planning, stronger industry collaboration, sustainability, connectivity and destination diversification provides a positive foundation for the sector’s future development. With its internationally recognised resort industry, expanding range of tourism experiences and coordinated preparations for Visit Maldives Year 2027, the Maldives continues to strengthen its position as a distinctive and competitive destination for travellers from around the world.
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