World tourism fair sees success for Sri Lanka
 Sri Lanka Tourism closed its annual promotion campaign at the World Travel Market (WTM) here on a highly successful note, officials said. Director Sri Lanka Tourism London Office Sanjika Perera said the campaign under the theme ‘Sri Lanka as Emerging Destination’ was completed on a very positive note and all the stakeholders of the industry worked toward achieving this success.
WTM, the second largest tourism fair in the world, provided a platform for millions of potential buyers and sellers in the leisure field from around the world. A near 100-strong Sri Lanka delegation representing 27 Destination Management Companies and 22 hotels took part in this year’s WTM.
Nabil Sherif, Marketing Manager UK and Ireland, said they finished this year’s WTM on a very positive note and the deals carried out on a ‘one-on-one’ basis were productive. “We hope that Sri Lanka will emerge as one of the best tourist destinations in Asia,” he added. Most of the visitors, including hoteliers, travel agents and tour operators, said they made positive business deals at the Sri Lanka stalls and looked forward to a productive winter season. Tourist Hotel’s Association of Sri Lanka President Anura Lokuhetti said he strongly believed in satisfactory improvement in winter arrivals and business afterward. ‘The sustainability is the key to the future tourism and we have to get on with it right now. I think the time has come to implement the issue’ he added. Hiran Cooraym, Chairman PATA and Chairman Jetwing Hotels, said be believed this is somewhat the ‘slowest’ WTM in recent times. “We, as Sri Lanka tourism stakeholders, make very slow positive business on arrivals but on a very positive note. I believe, the downtrend in the European Market would cause an impact on Lankan tourism and we have to get on with the aggressive marketing. Winning the war is definitely a strong marketing poin but we just can’t relax on that issue only.” Source: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/111113/BusinessTimes/bt34.html |
Mr Perera said, apart from the economic crisis in Europe, British tourists are still continuing to visit Sri Lanka. “Though we have noted a decrease in the arrivals during the months of October and September, the overall output from UK have increased comparatively this year.”
