DRMumbai: Showcasing Sri Lanka as a ‘must visit’ tourist destination, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotional Bureau successfully concluded their three-city road show held in Pune on September 4, Rajkot, September 5 and Surat on September 11.
These shows were a part of their seven-city show announced earlier this year. The event received an overwhelming response as over 100+ trade partners attend the event and were seen interacting with close to 24+ Sri Lankan delegates comprising of hotels, airlines, integrated resorts, attractions and Destination Management Companies (DMC).
This initiative aims at strengthening tourism relations between travel partners of both countries and is part of SLTPB’s strategic efforts to promote Sri Lanka as the most preferred short-haul holiday destinations for Indian travellers.
Sri Lanka has seen a substantial growth in tourist arrivals from India in the year 2017, with over 384,000 Indian travellers. The destination has already recorded a growth of 15.3% during the first half of 2018 compared with the same period last year.
Chamari Rodrigo, Consulate General, Sri Lanka High Commission in Mumbai said, “India topped the number of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka at 206,337 followed by Chinese tourists at 136,294. We strongly believe that there is a huge potential in this market and we aim to go all out to reach out to the audience across India. The seven city road show is one of the major activities Sri Lanka tourism conducted to ensure that key Indian travel and trade personnel maintain a close relationship with Sri Lanka’s tourism industry partners, in order to mutually expand the business opportunities between both, while offering their clients quality tourism experiences.”
He added, “It is our fervent hope to make Sri Lanka the most preferred destination in Asia for Indian travellers.”
Speaking about the road show, Viranga Bandara, Assistant Director – Marketing, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said, “Sri Lanka is soon becoming one of the most preferred holiday destination among the Indians. Our primarily objective for the year is to reach out to the potential travellers and showcase the various attractions the destination offers. Its important as a tourism board to ensure our trade partners are very well updated with the latest developments be it visa processing, special packages, new hotel launches etc. Only then will they be able to personalise the experience for their clientele and thus increase the footfalls to Sri Lanka. I hope our attempt of reaching out to the agents in these cities help us in enhancing our relationship”.
