Tourim Ministry Secretary Esala Weerakoon,Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga and SLCB Prema Cooray – Pic by Lasantha Kumara

By Charumini de Silva

Banking on the excellent air connectivity to India and China as the facilities to hold large-scale events in Sri Lanka are now in place, Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga insisted on an aggressive marketing program to woo the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) market.

He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has agreed to provide the convention facility at Temple Trees for major travel events.

“The Prime Minister said the facility at Temple Trees can be used for mass scale tourism events. We have excellent air connectivity to India. Now we need to have an aggressive marketing program,” he told journalists on Friday.

Currently, SriLankan Airlines flies 127 times a week connecting major and sub cities in India, becoming the largest international airline in the country.

However, Amaratunga said it was very unfortunate that the number of arrivals from India is quite low.

“We have to work very hard to attract Indians to Sri Lanka. We should tap into the Indian wedding market. Not only India, we are also focusing on the Chinese market for weddings,” he stated.

Amaratunga stressed that 400 couples will visit Sri Lanka in December where a colourful ceremony will be held under the patronage of the President and Prime Minister.

“The facilities are there now to hold large-scale events, it is now a matter of attracting them with the right campaigns,” he added.

According to him, the Bora Community has also requested space to hold their annual conference, which will bring in around 25,000 people to Sri Lanka.

“The only problem we have right now is that our airport in Katunayake is congested. We have reached full capacity. But Mattala will be opened soon and some operations will be directed to Ratmalana too,” he added.

Source: http://www.ft.lk/travel-tourism/John-urges-industry-to-woo-more-Indian–Chinese-MICE-tourism/27-639398