Travel / Lifestyle

Mega tourism promotion drive in Japan

by Surekha Galagoda

Sri Lanka has launched a mega tourism promotion drive in Japan to lure more tourists to Sri Lanka. It will kick off with the third annual Sri Lanka Festival at Events Plaza Yoyogi Park, Tokyo on October 14-15 hot on the heels of two weeks of promotional events that will continue in Tokyo from October 1 to 15.

It will comprise two Sri Lankan gala dinners, cultural shows, a Ceylon Tea Queen Contest, a Sri Lanka buffet lunch at the Shinjuku Hilton Hotel, Tokyo, a Sri Lanka Food Corner and a Ceylon Tea Centre at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, Tokyo.

The Food Festival at Hilton Tokyo will commence on October 9 with two gala dinners on the first two days. The highlight of the two gala dinners will be Sri lankan Airlines' Japan annual awards night, Sri Lanka Tourism Night combined with the Ceylon Tea Queen Contest. Over 50 Japanese beauties have already signed up to participate in this mega beauty contest.The Ceylon Tea Queen and the first two runners- up will be flown to Sri Lanka courtesy of SriLankan Airlines and LK Holidays on a week's tour of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Festival

The Sri Lanka Festival, which has now become a regular feature in the Tokyo events calendar, together with the Sri Lanka Week, will provide the Japanese with a unique opportunity to experience a taste of Sri Lanka right in the heart of Tokyo.

About 60 companies based in Japan and in Sri Lanka will participate in the Sri Lanka Festival with the displaying and selling Sri Lankan products in 80 stalls. The Festival with the theme 'Capturing Nature's Wonders, features the many natural attractions of Sri Lanka.

They include spicy Sri Lankan food including rice and curry, string hoppers, egg hoppers, koththu, cutlets and sweetmeats, organic herbal products including ayurveda health care items, cosmetics, health drinks and ayurveda massages, Ceylon tea from different regions of Sri Lanka with gourmet packaging, Sri Lankan spices, Sri Lankan crafts, hand-woven textiles and batik, semi-precious gems and costume Jewellery, reed and rush products, leather products, Sri Lankan liquor (beer and arrack); a kiddies' corner with lots of exciting games and surprises, and a grand raffle draw with many exciting prizes including 10 round-trip air tickets to Sri Lanka with holiday packages.

A team of three chefs for the occasion were specially flown to Tokyo courtesy, Galadari Hotel, Colombo for the food festivals.

The highlight of the Festival would be spectacular cultural performances by Sri Lanka's two renowned dance-percussion ensembles, 'Ravibandhu-Samanthi' and 'Channa-Upuli', who will perform well-choreographed extracts from different schools of Sri Lankan classical dance through the two days.

The Festival will conclude on October 15 evening with a Sri Lankan musical extravaganza featuring the country's top singers and musicians including Mariazelle Goonathilleke and Saman de Silva. About 100,000 Japanese are expected to visit the Festival over the two days.

Major attraction

The Festival is organised by the Sri Lanka Embassy in Japan with the support of Japanese and Sri Lankan organisations including SriLankan Airlines, Sri Lanka Tourist Board, Sri Lanka Tea Board, National Gem & Jewellery Authority, Sri Lanka Business Council of Japan and Sri Lanka Association in Japan.

The Festival is co-sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), Japan Bank for International Corporation (JBIC), Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the Shibuya City Office.

The Sri Lanka Week is being organised with the support of the Sri Lanka Embassy, Sri Lanka Tea Board, Sri Lanka Tourist Board, Srilankan Airlines and LK Holidays. The entire promotional campaign will be a major attraction for Japanese tourists to visit Sri Lanka and it is a major boost for Sri Lanka tourism said, Manager, Sri Lankan Airlines, Japan and Korea G.T. Jayaseelan.

According to statistics 18,000 Japanese tourists have visited Sri Lanka last year while there has been a slight increase over last year upto August 2006 in arrivals from Japan. In addition they are the highest spenders in Sri Lanka and therefore attracting them to Sri Lanka would help increase the revenue, said an official.

SLAPCEO to develop and maintain standards in MICE industry

Sri Lanka Professional Conference and Exhibition Organisation (SLAPCEO) was formed to develop and maintain international standards in Conferences and Exhibitions market in Sri Lanka. SLAPCEO is directly supported and assisted by Sri Lanka Convention Bureau which is functioning under the Ministry of Tourism to promote Sri Lanka as a venue for Meetings, Conferences and Exhibitions.

While Sri Lanka Convention Bureau represents Government interest in the meetings industry, SLAPCEO is expected to be the voice from the industry in this business in the formulation of policies and development of strategies.

The new committee will enhance its efforts to make the conference, meetings and exhibition business more professional and recognised to be a key segment in tourism which brings in a premium revenue to the country.

MICE Tourism Encompassing Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conference and Exhibition generates extra revenue as visitors from this sector spend at least 3-4 times more than the average holiday maker. In countries such as Singapore and Malaysia MICE industry is considered a separate industry as it is linked to many other areas in infrastructure development as well as trade and investment.

MICE tourism has many spill over benefits such as repeat holiday visits and additional support services that come along with meetings.

Presently the MICE contribution is around 12% of the total arrivals and to develop this sectors further, it is necessary that Sri Lanka gears it's MICE industry on par with her competitors in infrastructure development as well as with required standards and S LAPCEO would be focusing its attention to t hese vital needs in t he future.

World's longest passenger jet arrives in Qatar

Qatar Airways welcomed its first Airbus A340-600 aircraft to become the launch customer of the High Gross Weight Version of the world's longest passenger jet.

The 266-seat aircraft, which is capable of flying non-stop between Doha and the US east coast with a full load of passengers and cargo, arrived to a fireman's salute welcome at Doha International Airport following a flight from Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse.

The new A340-600 HGW (High Gross Weight) aircraft has a three-class cabin layout with innovative onboard features such as dedicated First and Business Class lounges for passengers travelling in the premium cabins to unwind and relax - a move designed to propel Qatar Airways into a more progressive and confident airline.

Another unique feature is live television with Qatar Airways becoming the first international airline to provide passengers with live streaming of a number of channels direct to their seatback TV systems.

Live television has been gradually introduced this summer on selected Qatar Airways Airbus A330 long-haul aircraft operating within, and between, the Middle East and Europe.