South Asia’s leaders of tourism deliberate on the ‘Way Ahead’

Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Renton de Alwis

South Asia’s largest travel and tourism exhibition, SATTE 2008, was held from April 18 to 20 in New Delhi, India and the regular memorial lecture there was presented by Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Renton de Alwis.

This 15th annual exhibition drew over 225 tour operators from 35 countries with 13 countries exhibiting their products. De Alwis spoke on “South Asian Tourism - An Opportunity Lost” at the Som Nath Chib Memorial Lecture.

Som Nath Chib, a most distinguished civil servant, was the first Director General of Tourism of India. Chib, a former deputy director general of All India Radio was a pioneer in promoting tourism in South Asia.

Not confining himself to his motherland, he gave of his expertise and experience to the then Government of Ceylon in the early sixties and later to the Bahamas. Chib also advised the governments of Nepal, Malaysia, Iran and Afghanistan and had the distinction of being in the pioneering team that formed the World Tourism Organization.

The Sri Lanka Tourism stall at the exhibition focused on the ‘Ramayana Trail’, a new and off the beaten track product, which attracted many inquiries and is expected to draw visitors in numbers, to explore the hitherto unexplored sites, according to a statement by Sri Lankan Tourism.