Sri Lankan industry members, the SLTPB representative Danojini Weerasinghe and Ambassador for Sri Lanka in The Netherlands A.M.J. Sadiq

Enjoying a cultural performance

Visitors at the fair 

Going through the Sri Lanka brochures 

Considering Sri Lanka as their next travel destination 

Netherlands being one of the top 10 sources markets for Sri Lanka has seen a steady growth of arrivals in the recent years. Last year alone, the numbers totalled 57,000 by December 2018. In an effort to capitalise on the growing trend of Dutch tourists, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau in a strategic endeavour will be taking centre stage at the Vakantiebeurs Travel Fair.

The Vakantiebeurs Travel fair which took place from 9 to 13 January in Utrecht is considered a meeting place for travel agencies, cultural associations and governments represented by the Promotion Bureau from all over the world. This fair is also considered to be the largest travel and tourism fair for the Dutch market.

The SLTPB has been a participant of this fair for over a decade and the increase in tourist arrivals from Netherlands is partly attributed to the destination promotion campaign which takes place at events like the Vakantiebeurs Travel Fair. This was the 49th edition of the fair, since the inception of the fair in 1970.

The Sri Lanka pavilion was ceremoniously opened by Ambassador for Sri Lanka in the Netherlands A.M.J Sadiq, amidst the presence of a distinguished audience. 13 industry representatives took part in the fair. A touch of glamour was added to the ceremony by a Sri Lankan traditional dance troupe which performed at the event, to showcase Sri Lanka’s rich cultural and diversity. In addition to the fair, B2B sessions were also held among the travel industry partners, which paved the way to increase more travel opportunities and expand business partnerships between the two nations.

Snapshot of Dutch tourists’ data

The Dutch traveller is a growing source market for Sri Lanka tourism with arrival numbers increasing on a yearly basis. It is a country with a very high GDP per capita with high spending on travel and leisure. The Dutch traveller’s average duration of stay is 9.9 nights (SLTDA Annual Report – 2016) while average expenditure (without airfare) per tourist per day is (non-package) $147.39 and (package) $207.43 (Survey of Departing Foreign Tourists from Sri Lanka – 2016). As at July 2018, Sri Lanka has seen a cumulative growth of 11.3% of arrivals from The Netherlands.

Vakantiebeurs Travel Fair

In 2018 Vakantiebeurs attracted over 1,100 exhibitors with a total number of visitors of 105,369 out of whom 14,575 were trade professionals.

The 2017 edition of the Vakantiebeurs attracted 108,779 holiday lovers to the largest travel event in the Netherlands. 80% of the visitors rated the offer of participating travel organisations as “very good”, equating to an average score of a 7.3.

Industry representatives

A cross section of industry representatives took part at the mega trade fair. They included Atiken Spence, Whittalls Travels, Eco Team, Youlanka Travels, Hawk Travels, Sunway Holidays, Camlo Lanka Tours, Hotel Lanka Supercorals, Ayubowan Tours, Zenith Expeditions, Oak Ray restaurants, Blue Lanka tours and Andrew the Travel Company.