French travel agents travel long haul to Colombo
View(s):The Sri Lanka Conventions Bureau (SLCB) has won a bid to host the French travel agents conference in Colombo next year despite being a long haul destination.
The French Travel Agents Association – The Syndicat National des Agences de Voyages (SNAV) picked Colombo to host its next conference with the participation of over 700 travel agents in October 2016, the SLCB CEO Vipula Wanigasekara said at a media briefing on Wednesday.
This would be the first time in 10 years that the conference would be held at a long haul destination. He noted that during their participation at the French Travel Fair they had used the opportunity to make the presentation of the bid offer to the association with a meet conducted at the Sri Lanka stall that attracted a number of French travel agents. Due to this, the popular French reality TV series Le Bachelor, Season 2015 with about 1.4 million viewers would have their 9th and 10th episodes shot in Sri Lanka this month in Yala, Mirissa, Galle, Weligama and Unawatuna.
Sri Lanka is also tipped to mark its presence at trade and consumer fairs in France next year at the Salon Mondial du Tuorisme in March, Lyon Mahana Lyon in March, Cannes: International Luxury Travel Market in November, and IFTM Top Resa – a business to business multi target and multi specialist event in September. Sri Lanka is also establishing a formal tourism section at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Paris to carry out promotions and equip them with the required facilities in this regard.