Hong Kong Resumes Direct Flights to Maldives

Direct flights from Hong Kong have resumed since the first flight arrived from the city in China last night. These flights had previously been regularly taking place up to 2020, and were disrupted by the global pandemic.

To commemorate this significant occasion, the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) arranged for a ceremony to welcome these tourists with a traditional Bodu Beru performance special gift packs, including flowers. The Chinese Ambassador, Wang Lixin, attended the event, along with officials from MMPRC, the Ministry of Tourism, Maldives Airports Company Limited, Maldives Immigration, Maldives Customs Service, along with other government-related enterprises, and tourism associations in the Maldives. Previously, Hong Kong Airlines had operated direct flights to the Maldives, and this resumption of service promises to bring more tourists from the southeastern region of China.

This development comes following the President’s monumental state visit to China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, where the two governments had signed 20 Memorandums of Understanding to increase cooperation between the two countries. During this visit, President Xi encouraged a larger number of Chinese tourists to visit Maldives, as well as promote people-to-people connections between the two countries.

Prior to the pandemic, China had been Maldives’ number one tourist market, which this Government looks to bring back with their renewed relationship with the Chinese government.

In the past year, Maldives reached its highest number of tourist arrivals in a calendar year, at over 1.8 million arrivals, which has earned the Maldives the award of “World’s Leading Destination,” among others.

In the coming year, MMPRC plans to promote tourism to Maldives among the Chinese Market through “an e-learning campaign, digital promotions on leading Chinese apps, outdoor marketing initiatives, joint promotional campaigns, familiarization trips, social media campaigns and active participation in fairs and exhibitions.”