Sri Lanka Tourism will communicate the news of its Guinness World Record for the largest tea party in the world with an initial rollout in Moscow, Russian at the Leisure and Tourism Fair 2015, which will be staged from 15-18 September. The world record set in India was broken when the 32,682nd and 32,683rd cups of tea were consumed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the sidelines of the Esela Perahera in Kandy. “We are going to launch the second phase of the project globally at the Russian trade fair,” Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau Chairman Dr. Rohantha Athukorala said.

“This is the market buzz required in a destination which must then be supported with the global advertising campaign off and online to attract the quality tourist of $250 plus. The Russian market post the economic downturn is picking up with the arrival numbers up 2.5% but cumulative performance so far this year is down by 9.8%. This must be corrected by the end of the year,” Athukorala said.  Thirteen key private sector travel and tourism destination marketing companies will represent Sri Lanka at the Moscow Fair, partnering Sri Lanka Tourism in the quest to drive the numbers up, he added.

“Sri Lanka Tourism is targeting to cross $ 3 billion net receipts in 2015 to the Sri Lanka economy and that is the responsibility that we shoulder to the economy,” said Dr Athukorala.  He said in this connection the new advertising campaign planned would help Sri Lanka develop a strong branding strategy that would be thereafter linked to the existing below-the-line communication strategy.