Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) hosted a networking event for a group of prominent social media influencers and travel bloggers at Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo, to welcome them and to felicitate those who had made an outstanding contribution to promote the destination.
The group consisting of 22 travel bloggers representing key markets in Europe and USA, arrived in Sri Lanka on 6 August to explore the destination and convey a message to the global community that the country is safe to travel, as well as to showcase its wide variety of holiday opportunities for travel enthusiasts.
The delegation will tour the country in five groups, which will cover the major attractions and also lesser-known attractions of the north, east, south and central parts of the country. The combined reach of these bloggers of all social media platforms is over seven million, with a major follower base in the European continent.
Janet Newenham, a prominent travel blogger from Ireland who has an average reach of 150,000 on twitter, 50,000 on Instagram, 30,000 on Facebook and 2000 on YouTube, runs the popular travel blogging site ‘Journalist On The Run’ and contributed largely to placing Sri Lanka on the global map as a top travel destination. In recognition for her massive support, she was presented the award for Outstanding Contribution to Sri Lanka Tourism at the event.
Commenting on receiving the award, she said, ‘’I was very happy and felt so surprised because it was so unexpected. I felt emotional at the same time and this means so much to me. I have been visiting Sri Lanka for three years now and I’m going to continue visiting this amazing country. I think Sri Lanka is one of the loveliest countries in the world with whale watching, the elephants, and I love Sri Lankan cuisine too. Sri Lankans are the friendliest people in the world. I take this as an opportunity to thank you all ‘’.