Aggressive promotion to woo French tourists

Sri Lanka is wooing French tourists amid a growing number of French travellers embarking on foreign trips.

Sri Lanka Tourism has launched a number of campaigns to attract French tourists, especially families with the support of several media organisations and travel agencies in that country.

Several French production companies have already visited Sri Lanka to produce TV programs about the island, a Sri Lanka Tourism press release said.

Last year, 86,000 French travellers visited Sri Lanka. France is the third highest Western European tourism market for Sri Lanka with 64,388 arrivals in 2013, 78,883 in 2014 and 86,126 arrivals in 2015.

Sri Lanka Tourism is expected to receive 2.5 million tourists at the end of this year, with over 103,000 tourists from France alone. Last year 1.8 million tourists visited Sri Lanka.

In February, the French TV production company 'Electron Libre' was in Sri Lanka to film a destination promotional program as part of their 'Open Skies' documentary which will be telecast over popular French TV Channels - 'TV5 Monde' and 'France 5'.

The filming crew spent 11 days in Colombo, Ratnapura, Ella, Polonnaruwa, Jaffna, Mannar and Negombo. The 52-minute documentary features Sri Lanka's nature, culture, landscapes and multi-ethnic people. A drone camera was used to film the documentary.

Sri Lanka Tourism with the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) and The Hotel Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) offered support to the promotional media crew.

Shine France Production Company (part of the British Shine Group television production companies), also arrived in Sri Lanka to film the French adaption of the popular American television series - 'Running Wild'.

The original program, which is popular among US viewers, was recently introduced around the world. South African explorer, Mike Horn accompanied a celebrity French singer and songwriter Matt Pokora on an adventurous experience of survival throughout this program.

The program covered the areas of nature, wildlife and the authentic luxury accommodation sector in Sri Lanka. The Running Wild France program will be telecast over 'M6 Channel' - the third most watched television network among the French-speaking people.

The 110-minute adventure program with two consecutive episodes on Sri Lanka will be telecast in September.

Sri Lanka Tourism with SriLankan Airlines also sponsored 20 leading travel agents operating in France in February. The travel agents included TUI-France, Thomas Cook, Kuoni France and Nouvelle Frontier. The Trade familiarisation program was arranged in collaboration with key associations and a B2B session was held with over 52 local destination management companies and hoteliers.