Financial Times

SriLankan Airlines’ new promotion campaign on MICE tourism

SriLankan Airlines is committed to promote Sri Lanka as one of the best tourist destinations in the world not only during good times but also during times of turbulence, said airline chairman Daya Pelpola.

"Tourism is an industry which should not be monopolised by one party as it needs a lot of teamwork and participation of all groups concerned," he noted at a ceremony to launch SriLankan Airlines, first ever MICE brochure.

MICE is an acronym for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, a niche market that SriLankan Airlines and other tourism related agencies including the local travel trade are seeking to promote. Pelpola presented the first copy of the brochure to Minister of Tourism Gamini Lokuge.

He said the airline together with the Sri Lankan Convention Bureau and local professional conference organisers actively promotes MICE tourism in Sri Lanka, encouraging foreigners to hold their meetings, conferences, exhibitions and incentive tours on the island.

Pelpola said they plan to increase the inbound MICE tourist market from 12 percent to 20 percent this year with this type of aggressive tourist promotion coupled with the current peaceful scenario.

The airline has allocated Rs 3 million as MICE tourism promotional costs this year.
SriLankan Airlines Head of Commercial G.T. Jeyaseelan said Sri Lanka has modern facilities for holding these events as well as offering MICE tourists the opportunity of enjoying an extended holiday in the island. He said that, the "Meet Sri Lanka" brochure will be distributed at MICE trade fairs and key corporate clients overseas to promote Sri Lanka as a MICE destination. (HS)

SLIM to host National Sales Congress 2003

The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing for the 4th consecutive year plans to host the National Sales Congress a press release said. This will be one of the key events in the Institute's Calendar and one that is clearly in line with SLIM's mission which is to establish Marketing as a driving force which enhances business and national value.

NASCO 2003 takes on a fresh and more meaningful approach than the previous years and looks at uplifting the status of the sales person by positioning itself very strongly as the national event that endorses the hallmark of sales excellence.

Primarily what NASCO tries to do is to recognize and reward the contribution of outstanding sales professionals since the sales person is clearly the core of an organization.

SLIM goes on further to recognize that salesmen and women deserve some of the glamour that is presently reserved for marketing and advertising. While glamorous events are held in recognition of good advertising and excellent brands, similar emphasis and image driving activity should be awarded to the sales function as well.

The theme therefore for 2003 is The Art of Selling. Recognized. What NASCO is not is a conference for just about anybody in the sales team nor is it a seminar for mediocre performers and it is certainly not a workshop, which talks about increasing efficiency.

Instead, NASCO is targeted strictly for the high flying sales person. It is only for the cream of the sales team nominated according to company standards and nominations need to be supported by the basis for selection. The Selection criteria therefore are tighter than previous years to bring in an element of exclusivity and could be on the basis of Turnover growth, Customer retention, Merchandising, Channel Development or any other special initiatives.

What does NASCO 2003 offer? Primarily, all participants are attending NASCO by virtue of their performance and that itself is the first level of recognition. This means that the cream of sales will come together in one location and have the opportunity to interact with their counterparts.

Eagle Insurance wins National HRM award

Eagle Insurance Company has won the National Award for Best Training & Development Strategy and Practice at the first ever National HRM Awards organized by the Association of Human Resource Professionals and the Institute of Personnel Management in association with the Postgraduate Institute of Management of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura a press release said.

"This award is a recognition of the ample opportunities we provide for employees to grow and develop," an Eagle Insurance spokesman said.

Eagle was among over 60 companies, which vied for the HRM Awards based on a very stringent criteria. 23 companies were selected for the final round, out of which 10 received awards at the National Awards Convention held at the Trans. Asia Hotel recently.

A Company spokesman explaining Eagles' training and development strategy emphasized that it is one that significantly leverages existing internal resources to share and commit to others' development. He further said that this innovative approach of developing each other is seen as a great enabler in all Eagle business endeavours. "We have an innovative concept called training champions', who are either line manages or senior managers, through whom we leverage these in-house capabilities for technical and non-technical trainings. Then there are in-house certificate programmes which prepare individuals for greater challenge of professional examinations. We also invest in training our senior management by getting them to participate in special programmes tailor-made for the Zurich Financial Services Group by international organizations," he said.

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