Sri Lanka Tourism beat 52 other countries to win the ‘Best Tourism Publicity Award 2015’ at the Korea World Travel Fair (KOFTA). The travel fair, which was attended by Sri Lanka Tourism officials together with 15 private sector industry professionals, was said to have attracted 66,516 visitors in its latest edition in Seoul, Korea.

“It’s an award for the 15 Sri Lankan’s who braved the MERS virus to promote the country above self, which is a rare honour. We have seen the industry doing same in the last 25 years during the war and must be commended,” Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Chairman Rohantha Athukorala stated in reference to an on-going outbreak of Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS) which has so far claimed 31 lives resulting in strict quarantine measures being adopted to combat the epidemic.

Featured attractions at the Sri Lankan pavilion this year were a Korean couple dressed in traditional Sri Lankan wedding attire in addition to other attractions featuring single origin Ceylon Tea from Nuwara Eliya.  “Once a global advertising agency comes to play we can embark on brand imagery development activity which is more important for a typical destination marketing task than just the ‘Sales Push’ we do at trade fairs,” Athukorala added.  According to the SLTPB other accolades bestowed on Sri Lanka Tourism include awards at Berlin’s ITB, India’s OTM and others in China.

Meanwhile, arrivals figures were said to have grown 14.5% Year-on-Year (YoY) to reach 714,584 in May 2015 while tourist earnings were reported to have crossed the $ 1 billion mark, according to Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) data. Additionally, the leisure sector also secured Rs. 4.1 billion in Foreign Direct Investment according to Board of Investment (BOI) figures.