World class sports to boost promotions in 2018
Sri Lanka is gearing up to entertaining its discerning travellers with a number of sporting events tipped to promote the destination with a whopping
Rs.185 million promotion among visitors from all of its key markets.
Following serious discussions of hosting at least three key sporting events next year the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) has geared up to create a venue in the country for world class sports events like the Ironman Triathlon, European Golf Tour and International Surfing, SLTPB Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam told the Business Times on Tuesday.
He noted that they have already started work on the events having conducted serious deliberations on the subject to ensure that next year they would promote the destination through these key events.
The Ironman Triathlon is expected to attract professionals in the sporting events from Australia, the US, India, China and the UK with 750 participants and a diverse number of viewers amounting to about 2000 people that will be in the country for one week next February in Colombo.
It was noted that the cost for this event would be Rs.50 million, which is a sporting event that provides its participants the benefits of endurance sports through the vast offerings made available, the Ironman website stated. The iconic Ironman series of events is considered the largest participation sports platform in the world that gives athletes the opportunity to prove that "Anything is Possible" by crossing the finish lines at the world's most challenging endurance races.
Mr. Balasubramaniam also explained that Sri Lanka will play host to the European Golf Tour for senior citizens next year in March at a cost of approximately Rs.90 million. The venue of the event is still under consideration.
The event will involve about 50 professional golfers mainly from Europe out of which about 15 will be golf legends expected to be witnessed by about 100 people.
SLTPB would be seeking to invest Rs. 45 million for the International Surfing event scheduled to be held in Arugam Bay in June next year with the participation of about 100 surf professionals tipped to visit the country during this event.
Mr. Balasubramaniam noted that despite the delay in getting the digital marketing campaign and the global tourism promotional campaign underway events of this nature would be able to compensate for the delay.
The MD pointed out that the total cost of the events could be shared by sponsors as well who would be attracted to host the event.
The iconic Ironman series of events is considered the largest participation sports platform in the world