Sri Lanka clarifies ‘overblown media reports” at MICE show

Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB), together with Srilankan Airlines and Destination Management company Lanka Sportsreisen (LSR) took part in this year’s Asia Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo, AIME - Melbourne held at Melbourne Exhibition centre last week.

The Sri Lankan delegation comprised Vipula Wanigasekera of SLCB, Ian Robinsen of SriLankan Airlines and D.K.R. Dharmapala LSR. “Apart from strengthening the business relationship with exhisting clients, introducing Sri Lanka to new buyers, and working on other business leads, this was an opportunity for our team to clarify the facts to many existing and potential buyers about the situation in Sri Lanka where buyers’ and consumers’ perception had been heavily influenced by the overblown reports published by some international media,” said Vipula Wanigasekera of the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau which is an institution functioning under the Ministry of Tourism for promotion and development of the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) industry in Sri Lanka.

This year’s event featured 850 exhibitors of which there were 120 first time participants representing the direct competitors to Sri Lanka including Malaysia, Vietnam, India, and China. Most of Sri Lanka’s competitors entered AIME with the realization that many incentive houses and meeting planners are looking for new destinations for their forthcoming events until 2009, a press release from the Convention Bureau said.