Kicking off its innings in the Middle East with a bang in 2020; and riding on past history of being a favourite destination from the region, Maldives has scored a huge win! Recently, the destination won the prestigious position of the ‘Favorite Country for a Holiday’ at Ultratravel Awards – The ULTRAs- hosted by The Telegraph Magazine in Dubai.

In 2019, Maldives won the ‘Indian Ocean’s Best Spa destination’ at the 5th Annual World Spa Awards in Dubai.

Arrival figures from the Middle East to the Maldives in 2019 showed a huge surge of 15.1% from 2018. The total figures for 2019 were 60,003 of visitors from the region — a confirmation on how popular the Maldives is as a beach destination from the Middle East.

Since September 2019, the readers of the UK and Middle East editions of Ultratravel, the users of Telegraph Travel – one of the biggest travel websites in the world – and Black Card holders from the sixteen million members of the DISCOVERY loyalty programme operated by the Global Hotel Alliance, have been voting for their favourite travel suppliers in the world. The ultimate result of those unbaised votes has been that Maldives has been awarded the prestigious position of ‘Favorite Country for a Holiday’.

“We are extremely honoured to receive this prestigious award at Ultratravel. Maldives is renowned for its breathtaking natural beauty and world-class hotels and resorts. We are expecting to see a larger growth in the number of visitors following the marketing campaigns and PR activities we are doing in the region,” commented Mr. Thoyyib Mohamed, MD, MMPRC.

The award was presented during the gala Ultimate Luxury Travel Related Awards ceremony presented at a gala event at the Emerald Palace Kempinski Hotel in Dubai on the evening of January 27th 2020, by Ronan Patrick John Keating, a renowned Irish artist, singer/songwriter, musician, and philanthropist.