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| Sunday, 23 February 2003 |
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Projecting Sri Lanka as gateway to S. Asia by INDUNIL THENUWARA The biggest tourism mart and exhibition in the South Asian region will be held in May in Colombo when 'Destination Sri Lanka...gateway to South Asia' opens at the BMICH Exhibition Centre on May 17. The event, which is expected to be held annually, will comprise an exhibition and conference for the local and international travel trade from May 17 to 20 and a tourism festival which is open to the public too from May 19 to 22. The Ministry of Tourism, Sri Lanka Tourist Board, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau, SriLankan Airlines and the travel and hotel industry are jointly organising the event. Tourist Board Chairman Paddy Withana, addressing a media conference to launch the event, explained the objectives of the travel mart as projecting the lesser known attractions and exotic beauty of Sri Lanka's different provinces for the development of domestic and international tourism; creating a buyer-seller travel mart for new tour operators and Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) buyers to meet local tour operators and MICE industry partners; providing a travel and tourism exhibition for local and foreign tourists; providing a platform for other South Asian countries to exhibit themselves with the goal of promoting regional tourism; providing a forum to discuss and deliberate on issues relating to inter- and intra-regional tourism and to project South Asia as the destination of the next decade; recognising local and international trade partners for their contributions to the development of the industry in the island through an annual travel and tourism awards ceremony; and creating an annual event for Sri Lanka and South Asia in the international calendar of events. Visitors will also be exposed to the lesser known attractions of the island's provinces including arts and crafts, culinary displays and the cultural heritage. Minister of Tourism Gamini Lokuge said that about 300 to 400 travel firms which currently do not operate to the island are being specially invited to attend the event. Five South Indian provinces have been invited to take part while several other countries in the region have also expressed interest in attending. Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism Dr P. Ramanujam described the event as the first regional travel mart of this magnitude. "Sri Lanka is one of the safest destinations in the world at the moment and we would like European and other tourists to come and see this for themselves." He added that tourism is one of 10 core areas chosen for development by the Government, which has realised that immediate economic development of the country depends on it. Tourist arrivals to the country have increased by 43 per cent in January over the same month of last year. "What we want to see is an increase in high quality tourists to the country; those who are willing to spend more. Currently an average tourist spends about US$ 65 per day, we would like to see this increasing to US$ 100. " Tapping that market is an objective of the travel mart," Ramanujam said. |
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