Aggressive plan to promote Sri Lanka in the Middle East

Sri Lanka Tourism has joined hands with Qatar based Al Jazeera channel on a major publicity campaign targeting Arabic speaking travellers in the Middle East market. Accordingly, a delegation headed by Deputy Minister of Tourism Faiszer Musthapha visited the headquarters of Al Jazeera in Qatar recently for negotiations.

“There is a need to be more aggressive in promoting the country’s image among Middle East travellers and I have made special programmes and a strategy to promote Middle East travelers to Sri Lanka,” the Deputy Minister of Tourism was quoted as saying -- in a press release -- while addressing a stakeholders meeting comprising tourism experts and airline operators in Doha. “The flight connectivity for Middle East is the best out of all countries and a wealthy Arab population coupled with large number of expats will provide an ideal opportunity for Sri Lanka to be one of the most preferred destinations for them which is only four and a half hours away,” he said.

Al Jazeera has agreed to consider this partnership beyond pure commercial terms. Accordingly, Sri Lanka will receive editorial coverage special interviews exposure on the web site and enhance visibility in the English Channel. Commenting on this partnership, Al Jazeera Vice Chairman and Managing Director Ahmed A. Al-khulaifi said, “We are looking at this partnership beyond pure commercial transactions. There is a lot to offer from our side and we are a different media agency. We are delighted to assist Sri Lanka Tourism.”