Sri Lanka Tourism woos Indian tourists
Showcasing Sri Lanka as a ‘must visit’ tourist destination, Sri Lanka Tourism hosted seven city roadshows to amplify Sri Lanka’s position as the most preferred short-haul holiday destination for Indians.
The show, which was attended by over 90 tour agents, many tour operators and Indian tourists alike, garnered renewed interest on Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has seen a spike in Indian tourist arrivals numbering 3.84 lakhs last year. Officials expect the numbers to go up to 4.50 lakhs this year.
“Sri Lanka has gained popularity and has experienced robust growth in Indian tourist arrivals. The objective of the roadshow was to enhance the visibility among the travel, trade and consumers to position Sri Lanka as the preferred destination, particularly the Ramayana Trail sites, which are widely scattered across the country,” said Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam.
He added that Sri Lanka Tourism was confident that 2019 will see a lot more Indians choosing to come to Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Tourism held roadshows in Chandigarh, Kolkata, Japiur and Hyderabad. The roadshows facilitated business-tobusiness meetings followed by presentations by the Tourism Promotion Bureau and Srilankan Airlines.
India is one of the top five tourist arrival markets in Sri Lanka. While Sri Lanka is one of the top 10 holiday destination for Indian travellers; so with this roadshow, the tourism board looks forward to extending its reach beyond the metro cities of the country.
The events were attended by Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi Minister Commercial Upekkha Samaratunga, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Assistant Director Viranga Bandara, Srilankan Airlines Manager Northern India Chinthaka Weerasinghe and other dignitaries.
The participants from Sri Lanka included Apple Holidays, Jetwing Travels (Pvt.) Ltd, Asian Adventure Travel Management Company, HTCEY Leisure (Pvt.) Ltd, Walkers Tours Limited, Hamoos Travels, Karusan Travels, Luxe Asia, Green Holiday Centre, Riu Hotel & Resorts, Bernard Tours (Pvt.) Ltd, Lanka Reisen Ceylon (Private) Limited, Exotic Global Holidays, Esna Holidays (Pvt.) Ltd, B.O.C. Travels (Pvt.) Ltd and Travelwind Holiday (Pvt.) Ltd, along with Sri Lanka Tourism officials and Srilankan Airlines officials, who showcased unique tourism offerings, latest developments and exclusive products for the India market.
The seven-city roadshow was aimed at strengthening the tourism relations between the travel partners of both countries and is part of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau’s strategic efforts to showcase Sri Lanka as the most preferred short-haul holiday destinations for Indian travellers.