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Best for Blondes
Published 1 June 13 1:52 PM | Maldives Complete
    Happy Blonde Day ! Or you could pick your resort based on the prevailing hair colour of the staff… When the press release came out a year ago about the ‘Blondes Only’ Olialia Island, everyone was looking for the ’01 April’ publication date...
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Surfaris, Spacations, and Snorkelooza
Published 24 May 13 3:29 PM | Maldives Complete
  In the growing world of travel options, the holiday industry is getting more and more specialised in its offerings and positioning. This trend was one of my motivations to starting Maldives Complete in order to help people navigate the growing...
Best of the Maldives: Press Kit – LUX* Maldives / Gangehi
Published 10 November 12 12:11 PM | Maldives Complete
Bumf, swag and paraphernalia. That is the burden of conventional marketing. The most popular give-away (often sponsored) at trade-shows is a carrier bag to haul all of the brochures, pamphlets, flyers, fact sheets and other assorted promo material. After...
World Travel Market 2012
Published 8 November 12 9:19 PM | Maldives Complete
    The World Travel Market 2012 concludes today with another packed stand at London’s Exel for the Maldives Tourism Ministry. Earlier in the week, I took some time to stop over and catch up with friends old (like Liz Panchang now with Quo Keen...
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For Resort Managers Only
Published 19 August 12 11:39 AM | Maldives Complete
    Many of my post are full of tips for prospective guests, but here are some tips for all of you resort staff and especially management based on my extensive sampling of the resorts… Always serve papaya with lime (and while you’re at it, teach...
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5 Star Nibbles
Published 18 August 12 1:6 PM | Maldives Complete
    On our latest Tour, a further give-away to the true ‘rating’ of an island occurred to me as we went through our nightly sundowner ritual of pina coladas (for me) and the most bizarre cocktail concoctions that captured my wife’s fancy. The...
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What Else I Didn’t See
Published 12 August 12 7:28 AM | Maldives Complete
Despite stirring up a bit of a teapot tempest last year with my ‘ What Else I Haven’t Seen’ piece, I have concocted yet another version with another year of researching and investigating the Maldives tourism industry. The Maldives Complete...
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New7Blunders of Nature
Published 14 November 11 5:45 PM | Maldives Complete
  From proud show of world travel highpoints to an embarrassing show of world travel wannabees. ‘ New7Wonders of Nature announcement this week of its 7 ‘winners’ vindicated the Maldives Marketing and Public Relation Corporation’s bold move to withdraw...
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World Travel Market 2011World
Published 13 November 11 12:6 PM | Maldives Complete
  Maldives came to London last week. The World Travel Market is Europe’s largest travel and tourism trade fair filling the entire Excel exhibition centre in London. It is an opportunity for tourism agencies and major players to convene with existing...
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Maldives, Always Natural
Published 30 October 11 4:7 PM | Maldives Complete
  Maldives…Always Natural.   The big news out of the Maldives this week is their new promotional campaign ‘Maldives Always Natural’. The announcement of the new logo has gotten most of the press, but that is just one piece of a larger, more...
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Basic, Smart, Elegant, Luxurious
Published 29 September 11 5:0 PM | Maldives Complete
So what are the differences between the ratings? What makes a 5 Star … and beyond? The following is my attempt to characterise some of the basic and more subtle distinctions between different tiers of quality from my years of experience in the Maldives...
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The 5-Star Problem
Published 27 September 11 1:33 AM | Maldives Complete
  So what the heck does ‘5 Star’ mean? With limited supply and the desire to earn as much as possible from the sustainable natural resource of the idyllic islands of the Maldives, the country and industry is rapidly moving to premium at nearly every...
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What I Didn’t See
Published 16 August 11 1:50 AM | Maldives Complete
My 2011 summer tour was a huge success in ferreting out all sorts of impressive and quirky distinctions of the resorts I visited and elsewhere. After last week’s follow up round of new posts, I am now up to 180 ‘Best Ofs’ with that number...
Seven Plunders of the World
Published 20 May 11 7:22 PM | Maldives Complete
  Beware Paid for Endorsements. The big news out of the Maldives tourism circles this week is the Tourism Board’s decision to withdraw from the ‘Seven Wonders’ competition. It turns out that tourism boards have to pay a significant price to be considered...
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New Year of Chinese
Published 3 February 11 6:18 PM | Maldives Complete
  Happy New Year! ‘Chinese New Year’ that is. The Year of the Rabbit. Perhaps an excuse to go to one of the islands where wild rabbits can be found like Soneva Fushi, Hudhuranfusi and Komandoo. While this might be the Year of the Rabbit, 2010 was...
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