Maldives Today

Tourism

Maldives Bids for Seventh Straight World’s Leading Destination Title as Voting Closes on 30 October

It is one of 10 nominees for the World Travel Awards’ top destination title and is also shortlisted for dive, green and honeymoon awards. Winners will be named in Tanzania on 12 December.

By Maldives Today ·
Award winners and officials pose on a stage beneath a large screen reading 33rd Annual World Travel Awards.
Winners on stage at the World Travel Awards Asia, Oceania and Indian Ocean gala at CROSSROADS Maldives on 27 September. (photo credit: Visit Maldives Corporation)

The News

The Maldives is competing for a seventh consecutive World’s Leading Destination title at the World Travel Awards (WTA), with public voting due to close on 30 October.

It is one of 10 nominees for the title, according to the WTA’s nominee list. The others are Costa Rica, Dubai, Jamaica, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, Tanzania, the USA and Vietnam.

The winners will be announced at the WTA Grand Final in Tanzania on 12 December, according to the organiser’s events page. The same page gives the voting period as 6 to 30 October.

Know More

The Maldives is nominated in four destination categories this year, and Visit Maldives Corporation (VMC) is nominated in a fifth, VMC said in a press release on 21 October.

The WTA’s own award histories show a mixed record in those categories:

Award Maldives’ record 2025 winner
World’s Leading Destination Won every year from 2020 to 2025 Maldives
World’s Leading Green Destination Won in 2024 and 2025 Maldives
World’s Leading Dive Destination Won from 2016 to 2018. The Philippines has won every year since 2019 Philippines
World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination Won in 2017. Saint Lucia has won every year since 2018 Saint Lucia
World’s Leading Tourist Board Won by the Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Corporation in 2022 and 2023 PROMPERÚ

The Maldives is one of four nominees for the green destination award, with Chile, Colombia and St Vincent and the Grenadines. It is one of 13 nominees for the dive destination award.

VMC says WTA winners are chosen by votes from travel industry professionals and consumers. Its release asks Maldivians, the industry and travellers to vote for the Maldives in all five categories.

Step Back

Before the Maldives, no destination had won the top title more than four years in a row in the WTA’s published award history, which starts in 1996. Dubai won it from 2013 to 2016, and Portugal from 2017 to 2019.

The world nominations follow the WTA’s Asia, Oceania and Indian Ocean gala, held at CROSSROADS Maldives on 27 September. There, the Maldives won the four Indian Ocean titles that match its world nominations, and VMC was named the Indian Ocean’s Leading Tourist Board, according to VMC.

Separately, VMC said on 12 October that the Maldives had been nominated for World’s Leading Sustainable Destination 2026 at a different event, the World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards.

The awards campaign comes as arrivals are below last year’s level. The Maldives received 1,728,760 visitors by 21 October, 3.2% fewer than in the same period of 2025, according to the Tourism Ministry’s weekly update dated 21 October. China, Russia and the United Kingdom were the largest markets.

The Record

Add Maldives Today as a preferred source on Google ↗