The delegation was led by Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Berlin Karunasena Hettiarachchi.
In all four cities, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Director Marketing Madubhani Perera, gave a comprehensive and informative presentation of Sri Lanka as a leading island destination in the world to more than 180 invited attendees from leading tour operators and travel agencies as well as 25 top-tier media companies.
The attending tour operators included wellknown travel producers, including but not limited to FTI Touristik, TUI, DER, Berge & Meer, Kiwi Tours, Gastager Weltreisen, Studiosus and Hauser Exkursionen as well as journalists from Süddeutsche Zeitung, FVW International, Axel Springer, Funke Mediengruppe and Falstaff.
“Sri Lanka and Germany look back to many years of diplomatic relations and we are proud that an increasing number of German travellers visit our beautiful country,” said Hettiarachchi on the occasion of the road show presentations in Germany.
The presentations and speeches by Hettiarachchi as well as the respective consuls of Sri Lanka in all four cities were followed by business networking events with 17 of the leading tourism companies and hotel groups in Sri Lanka.
In a following question and answer session, the attending travel trade and media professionals were able to address all their questions to the delegation.
At the evening meetings, new business contacts with tour operators were made in order to support the German market, which is highly important for Sri Lanka. With more than 130,000 travellers in 2017 and a forecasted number of 140,000 travellers in 2018, Germany is one of the top international tourism source markets for the country and one of the 10 most important markets for Sri Lanka’s tourism industry for many years.
The annual Sril Lanka Tourism Road Show is an important component of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau’s ambitious tourism marketing plan to promote Sri Lanka as one of the leading island destinations in the world and to educate travel trade professionals alike.