Sri Lanka Tourism rebuilds the nation’s smile
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry headed to India to rebuild the country’s image and bring back the holidaymakers from the subcontinent.
Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said at a media briefing held in Colombo on Thursday at the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) that with India’s strong middle class Sri Lanka hopes to attract at least 10 per cent of this segment of travellers to visit Sri Lanka.
He clearly hit out at his critics indicating that finances were well managed to ensure that most participants including himself were not using the funds from the government to travel and market the destination.
Except for the hotel and food expenses there were no payments made to take cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya, the dance troupe or comperer Danu on this promotional drive in three key cities of New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
The promotion had been carried out in partnership with MasterCard and SriLankan Airlines and the Business to Business sessions were said to be successful as they received endorsements from the Travel Agents Association of India President Ms. Jyoti Mayal who pledged to support Sri Lanka in the next three months.
Air India, Indigo, SpiceJet and Alliance Air have agreed to commence operations to Colombo and in this respect, the Minister had agreed to streamline and facilitate the process.
During the campaign they had had successful talks with Telegu Film producers to identify Sri Lanka as an ideal film location. Minister Fernando had assured his support to simplify the process of approvals and introduce a single window process in a bid to coordinate such activities.
The roadshows targeted tour operators, MICE Agents, media, key influences, corporate and trade associations and key tourism industry stakeholders in India. More than 600 Indian trade delegation and 52 media participated at the events.
Following this success, Minister Fernando said they would pursue a second promotional campaign in Bangalore, Chennai and Cochin before December.
The Minister explained that since Sri Lanka can provide the night life and the ideal destination to relax between the days of the matches they hope to attract fans to FIFA to come to Sri Lanka.
In addition, a ferry service link between Sri Lankan and Pondicherry has been mooted and there has been interest expressed for the establishment of an Ashram in Sri Lanka that is expected to generate more travellers to the island.
The Minister also highlighted that they were planning to light up Colombo under the “Sri Lanka Can” campaign for which the Power and Energy Minister had assured them that there would be uninterrupted power supply during that time. These types of campaigns are needed to send the message to the world that Sri Lanka is back to normal and they can visit Colombo.
Another novel campaign, would be to target visitors to the FIFA World Cup happening in Qatar from November to December where travellers would be attracted to stay in Sri Lanka for the days on which no matches are held.
In this respect, Minister Fernando said they have introduced a plan to establish a FIFA zone in Negombo and hope to obtain the services of FlyDubai, Qatar Airways and Emirates to bring in the traffic to Sri Lanka.
Hitad.lk has you covered with quality used or brand new cars for sale that are budget friendly yet reliable! Now is the time to sell your old ride for something more attractive to today's modern automotive market demands. Browse through our selection of affordable options now on Hitad.lk before deciding on what will work best for you!