Leading Chinese travel agents meet Minister Rajapaksa

With the view of promoting Sri Lanka as a popular tourist destination, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) organised a familiarisation tour for 14 leading travel agents from China, together with Malaysian Airlines. The travel agents met Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa, and had discussions on developing China's inbound tourism market to Sri Lanka.

Fourteen leading travel agents including Malaysian Airlines Xiamen, participated in this familiarisation tour, which provided a comprehensive picture on the potential of Sri Lanka as a popular tourist destination, Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism Bhashwara Gunarathna also participated in the discussions.

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau arranged them to cover the areas of Dambulla, Sigiriya, Kandy, Galle, Hikkaduwa and Colombo. These agents had the opportunity to visit these places which would help them package their tours to Chinese visitors.

Sri Lanka Tourism also took steps to arrange a business networking meeting, as part of this familiarisation tour, with the participation of 35 tour operators of Sri Lanka, who are currently active in the Chinese tourism market at Colombo.

By the end of November this year, the number of arrivals to Sri Lanka from China amounted to 22,176 with an increase of 46 percent from last year. For 2013, the target has been set at 60,000 arrivals, which is seemingly accessible with the number of promotional activities executed under the guidance of the Ministry of Economic Development.