Sri Lanka brand to be launched at Expo Milano 2015
View(s):Sri Lanka Tourism will be participating at the next Expo Milano 2015 together with the Sri Lanka Tea Board, the National Craft Council, SriLankan Airlines and the Board of Investment, a media release issued by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTP) said.
This initiative has been given a cabinet nod aimed at boosting the Sri Lanka brand in the overseas markets, the release stated.
The event is scheduled to take place in Milan, Italy and in this regard, Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathuideen has appointed SLTPB chief Rohantha Athukorala as Commissioner General to head the Sri Lanka Expo team.
Tourism and Sports Minister Navin Dissanayaka said that this was an opportunity to build brand Sri Lanka as all key agencies would be participating and this would set the stage to launch this initiative by understanding the financial and power blocs that could be used to build relationships for future progress.
Mr. Athukorala noted that the 6-month event would be structured to six themes which would tell the world of Sri Lanka’s promise. On Tourism it would be “8 wonderful experiences in 8 wonderful days”.
He said that in 2014, 23 million people had googled Sri Lanka tourism related searches and “we ended with a conversion of 1.5 million visiting Sri Lanka”.
Within the next six months Sri Lanka would work on inking an agreement with a large tour operator from Italy in a bid to attract charter tourists into Sri Lanka, Mr. Athukorala said.
He pointed out that this partnership would be carried out through a top blue chip company and added that should this tie-up happen prior to Expo 2015 it would create a head start for Sri Lanka.