Sri Lanka heads to travel fairs to boost forex
Sri Lanka will kick off physically participating at travel fairs from this month following discussions between the authorities and industry to engage in these to ensure the much needed foreign exchange flows back into the country.
Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau officials told the Business Times that while Sri Lanka will participate at the annual travel show in Moscow, Russia from September 6 they will also continue to be present at the Ukraine fair and looking at possibilities of marking their presence at similar fairs in France, UK and Germany subsequently.
Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga and Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kirmali Fernando are attending the Russian and Ukraine events.
The Russian travel fair will be the first travel fair Sri Lanka will be participating in since it engaged in virtual travel fairs last year following the start of the pandemic, the official said adding that about 13 companies will be participating. Following this event the authorities will also head to Ukraine to participate at a travel fair conducted there.
Moreover, the authorities are now planning to participate or engage the foreign missions overseas to participate at the IFTM fair in France and the World Travel Mart (WTM) in the UK as well.
Already there are 10 companies that have confirmed participation at the IFTM fair but officials noted that there are issues pertaining to entry into France since they do not approve of the Sinopharm vaccine in particular which has been popularly administered to citizens in Sri Lanka.
Authorities believe that in that case the company representatives or agents in those markets and the Sri Lankan embassy could participate at the event.
Officials said they were still in discussion regarding attending the WTM fair and how the matter could be worked out since Sri Lanka is still on the red list and it is important to be part of the event, at least this year.
They noted that with 10 companies already confirmed for this travel fair as well they were hoping the situation in the country pertaining to COVID-19 will turnaround which would mean Sri Lanka will be off the red list of countries.
Connaisance De Ceylon Chairman and Managing Director Chandra Wickramasinghe pointed out that travel fairs are very important and it was physically carried out with the ITB fair in Berlin attracting 181 countries, WTM bringing in 182 countries and IFTM seeing 164 countries participating prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This shows that the travel fairs are making a major influence on tourism destinations,” he noted adding that the national tourism organisations also need to be present at these fairs to market the destination.
For the SMEs it is an opportunity to head to Germany or the UK to meet the vast travel community at a relatively small participation fee, he said.
Mr. Wickramasinghe also explained that with investments already made with direct accessibility to markets like France it is important to participate at the travel fair.
Aitken Spence Managing Director Travels Nalin Jayasundere said that where there is potential their company will be looking at participating in these planned travel fairs in a bid to attract travellers. He noted that they are currently looking at taking part at the Russian travel fair since SriLankan Airlines and Aeroflot will be flying between the two countries.
“These are risk averse countries and we need to do some marketing campaigns without waiting for the global campaign because in the short terms it can help them to revive and sustain,” Mr. Jayasundere explained.
In view of the WTM, he noted that they too hope to participate but considering the current situation they may look at the possibility of engaging their representatives there to be present at the fair if even by November Sri Lanka continues to remain on the red list of countries with restrictions on entering the UK.
With SriLankan Airlines and Air France planning on conducting flights via Male to Sri Lanka, Mr. Jayasundere believed that participating at the October travel fair is relevant.
Sri Lanka badly needs the tourist traffic to keep the foreign exchange flowing back into the country as evidently most travellers from Europe and Canada so far this year have been those of Sri Lankan origin.