Maldives has won the World’s Leading Destination Award at the World Travel Awards 2023 for a fourth consecutive year.

The award was won amidst fierce competition from 17 acclaimed global destinations, including Dubai, Indonesia, New Zealand, Spain, and Vietnam.

The Maldives once again claimed the two most distinguished awards at the World Travel Awards event held at Dubai’s iconic Burj Al Arab on the 1st of December 2023. In addition to securing The World’s Leading Destination 2023 title, MMPRC was honoured as the World’s Leading Tourist Board 2023, marking the second consecutive year winning this prestigious title.

The Maldives was also nominated as the World’s Leading Beach Destination 2023, World’s Leading Dive Destination 2023, World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination 2023, World’s Leading Island Destination 2023, and World’s Most Romantic Destination 2023.

"This exceptional fourth consecutive win reaffirms the Maldives’ commitment to delivering unparalleled experiences, and we extend our gratitude to our visitors, industry partners, and stakeholders whose steadfast support has been pivotal in achieving this milestone," MMPRC said in a statement.

The World Travel Awards was established in 1993, is the most prestigious honours programme in the global travel and tourism industry recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence. It serves to acknowledge, reward, and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the global travel and tourism industry. The selection of winners is carried out by a voting system consisting of qualified travel professionals working with the travel and tourism industry along with consumer buyers.

The Maldives also received the newly-introduced Global Tourism Resilience Award at this event, given to the 5 leading destinations and countries for strategically building capacity to recover swiftly and thrive after disruptions.