On the eve of President Maithripala Sirisena’s historic visit to India, Sri Lanka Tourism at the biggest travel trade show in India – (OTM Mumbai) was awarded the coveted “Best Stall” award.
Tourism Minister Navin Dissanayake commend the strong working partnership between the private and public sectors, particularly the manner in which Sri Lanka Promotions Bureau engages with other state actors in building the image of Brand Sri Lanka.”
The Counselor General for Sri Lanka in Mumbai Saroja Sirisena who accepted the award on behalf of the country said, “This is a big win for Sri Lanka and I admire the talent at the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau for the new direction in developing a new identity for the country. Now we must build on this win and strengthen the links with the travel partners in India”. The Minister for Tourism and Sports Navin Dissanayake voiced “I commend the strong working partnership between the private and public sector and namely how Sri Lanka Promotions Bureau engages with other state actors for building the image of Brand Sri Lanka”
Mumbai accounts for about one third of all outbound travel from India. Maharashtra is the top destination state for foreign tourist arrivals, according to industry experts.
“Our push in each market is driving the agenda in positioning Sri Lanka to be seen as the “Most treasured Island in Asia”. That is our single minded idea. This will be supplemented with visiting journalist programmes and trade familiarization tours from the key focus markets. We will also be testing new marketing strategies like films marketing- which is what we are doing in the French market to be replicated in the Indian market, noted Athukorala.
Over 2500 participants from 70 countries, including 28 participants from Sri Lanka Tourism, displayed their products at the show with SriLankan Airlines partnering the event which was also unique so that synergies were driving the tourism agenda of Sri Lanka.
The largest pavilions at t he travel exhibition were from Sri Lanka, Turkey, New Zealand, but there was stiff completion from Mexico, Dubai, Japan, Thailand, Egypt, Nepal, Philippines, Macau, China and Argentina that made Sri Lanka Tourism award special.
Indian states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Kerala, Daman & Diu, Karnataka, Punjab, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra too were among the exhibitors. For the first time, SriLankan Airlines participated at the event and won an award for ‘value leisure’ while Sri Lanka Tourism took away the best stall award.
Source : http://epaper.dailymirror.lk/epaper/viewer.aspx
Sri Lanka Travel Feneteko