Maldives tourism magazine and website, Maldives Traveller, will hold an awards ceremony to honour the best resorts in the Maldives.

The Maldives Traveller Awards for Excellence will be judged by reader votes and will include 10 prize categories, recognising the ‘best resort’ and dream island’ as well as those best for honeymoons, wedding ceremonies, spa relaxation, snorkelling, diving, surfing, business and family holidays.

The awards ceremony will be organised by events company Mind-Set and will include a gala dinner and entertainment held in Berlin, Germany, in March 2011.

Publisher of Maldives Traveller, Tropical Paradise, said the awards ceremony would encourage excellence and competition within the Maldivian hospitality industry.

Maldives Tourism Promotion Board together with tourism industry held a series of road shows in Prague, Warsaw and Budapest on 20th , 22nd and 24th July 2009.

The road shows are the first step to introduce Maldives in these markets to utilize its potentiality, capture sufficient share of outbound market and to reduce country’s leverage on other markets.

The road shows has been organised to maximize publicity and yield greater business opportunities through B2B meeting with the 2 travel agents, 2 resort chains and 210 representative tour operators from respective cities.

Last year Maldives welcomed a total of 683,012 visitors of which 19100 visitors are from East European countries with a market share of 2.8%.

The Maldives will see the opening of the first international-class hotel for its capital city, Malé. The 117-room Holiday Inn Malé will open on 1 September 2009. At 15 storeys, Holiday Inn Malé is the city’s newest and tallest hotel in the Maldives and in a 750-kilometre radius, commanding an unrivalled view of the harbour and beyond.

Just a short, five-minute speedboat ride from the international airport, the hotel will offer world-class meetings and conference facilities, food and beverage outlets, extensive recreation and leading-edge communication facilities. Located on the corner of Ameer Ahmed Magu, Holiday Inn Malé lies near the harbourfront, shops and markets and within a short walking distance to the various historical places of interest like the Old Friday Mosque, Sultan Park and The Presidential Palace. The hotel provides the perfect gateway to holidaymakers heading out to outlying resort islands.

Sporting the new livery, quality facilities and service of the global Holiday Inn brand family, Holiday Inn Malé boasts of 117 stylish rooms which include 17 Superior Rooms, 77 Deluxe Rooms, 13 Deluxe Ocean view Rooms, 9 Premiere Rooms and a Presidential Suite. All rooms feature either a king bed or two twin beds and offer amenities such as broadband Internet, LCD TVs, minibar, complimentary tea/coffee making facilities and in-room safes. As for dining and entertainment, there is a Lobby Café, an all day dining restaurant, a rooftop restaurant offering European/Japanese fusion cuisine and a 24 hour in-room dining.

The hotel also has a rooftop swimming pool, a well equipped fitness centre and the first branded Spa in Malé, Coconut Spa. Other full range of activities include scuba diving and snorkeling, big game fishing, island excursions and picnics, Malé city tour, photo flights, resort day visits, submarine trips and others.

For corporate meetings, there are four versatile meeting rooms including the Grand Ballroom offering 255 square metres of space, all equipped with the latest technology. They provide the ideal space for a range of function requirements: from seminars, board meetings and exhibitions, to wedding banquets and private celebrations catering for up to 180 persons, banquet style, or 240 for a reception.

“Holiday Inn Malé will offer leisure and corporate guests alike a perfect place to relax in comfort or conduct business with ease,” said Jolyon Bulley, vice president operations, South East and South West Asia, IHG Asia Australasia. “As the first IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) hotel in the Maldives, this represents an important milestone for IHG. It presents not only a strategic opportunity for the group to contribute to the thriving tourism industry in Maldives, but also play a significant role within the Malé community.”

Be one of the first in the world to stay in the all-new luxurious Angsana Resort and Spa Maldives InOcean Villa with our opening rates starting from just USD750!**

The much-anticipated water-villa collection in the Maldives is finally here. Located at the edge of the glistening reef, decked out with a gorgeous infinity pool and a breathtaking ambience, the Angsana InOcean Villas bring new meaning to affordable luxury in the Maldives.

Get the best water-villa deal in the Maldives with our Introductory Promotion!

*Rates are inclusive of breakfast for 2 and are only applicable for Premier and Sanctuary InOcean Villas.

**Please note that the rates in the booking engine already reflect the 50% discount.

Validity period from 01 Jul 2009 until 31 Oct 2009

Reservation Inquiry

The Indian Hotel Company Ltd (IHCL’s) operated Taj Coral Reef Resort in Maldives will be relaunched under the ‘Vivanta by Taj’ banner by August 2009. The resort has undergone extensive refurbishment by architects Grounds Kent Architects and interior designers PWP Interiors. The property will be known as Vivanta By Taj Coral Reef Maldives.

The re-branded resort property will feature 62 villas, of which two are beach villa suites and will have private accommodation along with the in-house Jiva Spa. Other accommodation options include thatched beach villas with large beach side porticoes or the water villas, with private decks overlooking the lagoon.

Each villa is equipped with state-of-the-art LCD TV, home theater system with ipod connectivity, sound system, WiFi / high speed Internet and mini bars. The F&B options will include three restaurants Latitude, the all day dining restaurant, The Hembadhu Grill, which will offer an alfresco dining experience and the open air Reef Bar.