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| Sunday, 16 October 2005 |
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Mega promotion to woo European tourists From Gamini Warushamana in Paris The Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) is carrying out a mega promotion campaign in Europe targeting the forthcoming tourist season and sustainable growth of tourist arrivals from Europe in the coming years.
The campaign is now being conducted simultaneously in France, UK and Germany through the SLTB offices in London, Paris and Frankfort, a spokesman for the SLTB Paris office said. The three SLTB offices cover a vast area of Europe and the Paris office covers Belgium, Luxemburg, Netherlands and in Southern Europe Italy, Spain and Portugal, said the Director of the SLTB Paris office Dileep Mudadeniya. There is unexploited potential in the French market and today France is the fourth largest source of tourists to Sri Lanka with an average of 30,000 arrivals per year. Every year France selects a country specially designated for promotion activities and for this year Brazil has been selected. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga called upon the French government to select Sri Lanka in the near future during her talks with French President Jacques Chiraq on October 7, Officials at the Sri Lanka embassy in Paris said. President Kumaratunga joined the launch of the SLTB photo book on Sri Lanka 'Portfolio Sri Lanka' by French photographer Fabrice and a DVD guide on Sri Lanka by Pierre Brouwers, one of the series of promotion activities organised by the SLTB Paris office. Tourist agents, organisations and tourist journalists were invited to the ceremony. A Group of Sri Lankan dancers led by Channa Wijewardana performed traditional and modern dances in the evening. Deputy Minister of Tourism Arjuna Ranatunge and SLTB Chairman Udaya Nanayakara were also present at the Hotel Le Bristol in Paris. "Our first objective is maintaining positive figures in tourist arrivals from Europe this year because there is a setback in the industry after the tsunami disaster. Secondly we target a 15 percent increase in tourist arrivals from France next year" Dileep said. The SLTB France office has taken much effort together with Sri Lankan Airlines to keep the arrival figures up from the territory it covers in Europe after the tsunami. They carried out a price based promotion and offered "buy one get one free" and "half price for better half" packages for tourists flying on SriLankan flights. Dileep said that the French market is very important and they have drawn up a special promotion campaign in Paris and major cities in France. A positive arrival figure was recorded from the French market from January to August and it is a 10 percent increase compared to the previous year, Dileep said. Dileep said that for the first time in the history of the tourism industry in Sri Lanka the SLTB started a consumer campaign in Europe. In Paris they organised a series of activities. An advertising campaign was launched on October 5 and it is now being telecast on the main French TV channels. There are 600, 30 second TV commercials on attractive tourist destinations in Sri Lanka. On September 28 the SLTB launched a poster campaign in Paris and other major cities in France. There are large 8 sqm posters. Similar size billboards were displayed from October 11 to 17 in Paris and major cities in France. Another poster campaign will be launched on October 28 in underground metros. It will continue till November 5. The SLTB Paris office has also signed agreements with the French Railway Network to distribute booklets to first class passengers from October 11-15. The taxi campaign started on October 11 and 1000 placards were displayed in 500 taxis. Advertising in main websites and tourist magazines have also been arranged here targeting the tourist season which has just begun. The total cost of the campaign in France is 500,000 Euros. The new office of the SLTB with modern facilities and a Sri Lankan identity was opened by the SLTB Chairman on October 3 at Rue de Choiseul, 75002 Paris. ############ Tropical Pleasure moves into top gear by Surekha Galagoda Tropical Pleasure (Pvt) Ltd was launched by Prasanna Jayewardene and Susanne Filippin, the promoters of the Elephant Corridor Hotel, the first purpose built,luxury, lifestyle designer hotel which is a success story to gear itself to the challenge of the ever changing requirements of tourism and the new markets emerging in Sri Lanka. Under its umbrella will be the Tropical Academy, Walauwas and classical limousines. The Tropical Academy will educate and guide students who have completed their O/L and A/L examinations. The academy will offer a Diploma in hotel Operations, Certificate in Hotel Operations, Certificate in Hospitality marketing, Certificate and Diploma courses in English, Japanese and French, Certificate course in Web designing, Diploma in computing and a certificate course in Merchandising. The company is planning to promote the Walauwas in the areas of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kavudulla and Minneriya as guest houses. As new destinations are demanded we are planning to develop the existing Walauwas together with excursions to areas less travelled in limousines and classic open cars, Filippin said. We hope to develop an existing Walauwa of an old Chieftain into a secluded upmarket hotel with a limited number of rooms. The atmosphere will be relaxing and calm. The small staff will offer a personalised service while being discreet. They will wear uniforms in keeping with the day- sarongs and coat. Morning tea will be offered on the large surrounding terrace while high tea will be served on the terrace or in the garden under the trees. The restaurant will be lit only with candles. The menu will offer Sri Lankan dishes with a focus on the food served at that time including stews, roast beef, soups and desserts. Tropical Pleasure will launch Sri Lanka's first "Classic Limousine" service with the only Cadillac limousine in the country imported for a President of Sri Lanka and other vehicles. More classic limousines formerly owned and or used by a Malaysian Prince the queen of England and the Prime Minister of Ceylon are privately owned by the Directors of the company Prasanna Jayewardene and Susanne Filippin. Opportunities presented in the wedding market and particularly in the area of transport for brides and grooms in this particular niche is what we are exploring, Ms. Filippin said. The directors of the company are Mrs Amara Galagoda, Karuppan Ganeshan and Lanka Wickramasinghe. ########### ME tourist market unexploited by D.A. Wijewardena The Middle East tourist market has not been exploited as tourist arrivals from the Middle East to Sri Lanka were only 10,453 in 2004. The Tourism Ministry in collaboration with SriLankan Airlines has already formulated a plan to attract more tourists from the Middle East in the coming months,said Tourism Ministry Secretary Dr. P. Ramanujam at a media conference on Travel Source Market for Sri Lanka Tourism at the Tourism Ministry auditorium last week. Ramanujam said that it was the duty of the private sector also to develop more facilities such as child care facilities, restaurants and hotels with Halal food so that Muslim tourists from the Middle East bent on deriving pleasure could be attracted. He said that the Tourism Ministry was in the process of printing a detailed tourist brochure for Middle East countries and it would be released shortly in Saudi Arabia. The Tourism Development Act which was passed by Parliament was a great step forward to develop the tourist industry. Referring to flight services, Ramanujam said that tourist traffic from the Middle East to Colombo had been hampered by flight availability a few months ago and the situation had now changed as Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Kuwait Airways, Royal Jordanian, Air Arabia, Czech and Saudi Arabian Airlines collectively provid connections to Colombo with 42 flights each week. He said that as a result of the increase in the number of flights the
level of accessibility from the Middle East to Sri Lanka had increased
considerably. |
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