A 5 Star Prime Rated World Qualifying Series (WQS) event for men held in the idyllic paradise of the Maldives from 3 - 9 June 2007. The prize money of USD100,000 event was sponsored by SriLankan Airlines and with presenting sponsorship from the Maldives Tourism & Promotions Board, the 2007 ‘Maldives presents SriLankan Airlines Pro’ will be a definitive ASP WQS Tour event.

Enter to the Event online

For further information please contact:
ASP Australasia
P: 02 6674 9888
F: 02 6674 9887
E: hollyt@surfingaustralia.com

Lewis Gordon Pugh, the famous endurance swimmer, is currently attempting to swim across the entire width (160km) of the Maldives – world renowned tropical holiday destination.

The purpose of this swim is to raise awareness about the challenges faced by low-lying countries like the Maldives who have done virtually nothing to contribute to the current negative climate changes but stands to lose most due to global warming and sea-level rise.

The Maldives – an archipelago comprising about 2000 coral islands, some of which are no more than barely a meter above sea level – are the lowest lying islands in the world. Thus they are the most threatened by global warming and even the slightest rise in the sea-level.

Pugh is the first person to have completed long distance swims in all five continents and over the past 2 decades has pioneered more swims around famous landmarks across the globe than any other swimmer in history.

His current challenge to raise global warming awareness by swimming across the width of the Maldives started on February 12, 2007 and is expected to be completed in 10 days.
END

SriLankan Airlines and Maldives tourism board gave Mumbai a taste of a night at the islands..

SriLankan Airlines ties up with Maldives to promote tourism August 31, 2006: SriLankan Airlines(UL) and the Maldivian Tourism Board (MTPB) hosted a night that witnessed the cultural grandeur of the two gorgeous islands Sri Lanka and the Malidves at the J W Marriott.

Mr. Barry Brown - Head of Commercial UL and Chandana Desilva, Head of Communication UL, along with Mr. Mahmood Shaugee from MTPB were seen playing the gracious hosts to the evening.

Maldives is a world renowned holiday destination with pristine beaches and exotic natural beauty that will be more accessible through SriLankan Airlines which the largest foreign carrier flying 15 times a week.

By: Kkomal Seth & Gautam Seth

The Maldives has launched a new campaign to promote the sunny side of life in the Europe; this time on bus rides through the streets of Munich and Frankfurt, Germany. Two separate buses, each decorated with the colourful pictures from the destination Maldives will be cruising around the streets of Munich and Frankfurt picking up travellers from all over the globe who have gathered in Germany’s main cities to witness the FIFA World Cup from June till the 9th of July this year.

This is part of the Maldives’ continuous efforts to promote its unique product in the European markets as well as in the rest of the world. Football fans from across Europe have the opportunity to win a trip to the Maldives by simply taking part in the Maldives Lucky draw competition advertised on the FIFA Official Guide for Germany 2006 available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, Czech, and Swedish language.

The Maldives has been enjoying a promising season for its tourism so far this year. The island nation welcomed over 264,000 tourists until the end of May this year and is well on its way to achieving the target to exceed the arrival numbers of 2004.

Maldives launches promotions aimed for over 100 Australian travel agents, wholesalers, and media companies interested in further developing ties with the island-tourism destination. “Australians love to travel for adventure, action, romance and pampering, and the Maldives offers all those attractions in abundance,” the tourism promotion board’s Ismail Shahyr said.

“Unfortunately too few Australians know about us, and our task is to ask the Australian travel industry to join us in raising our country’s profile and generating more demand from Australians looking for a great surf, dive, cultural and spa resort experience”.

Made up of more than 1200 tiny islands and atolls the Maldives is going through a mini development boom in the archipelago with 35 new islands being set aside for tourism recently.

“Tourism is now our biggest industry, and the trend is for stronger growth in the future. A very good indicator of that growth is that while we already have 87 resorts ranging from budget to super luxury there are a further 46 in the pipeline. As well as that, we are seeing strong growth in the number of operators packaging water-based activities like surfing and diving and a growing interest in the sea-based culture of our 1190 islands and 26 natural atolls,” concluded Mr. Shahyr.

Australians made up 1.3 per cent of the 616,716 visitors to the Maldives in 2004. At the moment Australians can fly to the Maldives in 12-15 hours with Singapore Airlines, Emirates or Malaysian Airlines. It is the Maldives Tourism Promotion Board’s intention to develop more ties in the Australian market in order to improve accessibility and traffic from the market.

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