Sri Lanka Tourism launches marketing campaign in India

Sri Lanka Tourism won two awards - MICE Operator of the Year and the Best Country Profiling Presentation at the IITM - Bangalore 2015 edition, which held in good stead for the Rs. 250 million marketing campaign launched in its number one source market, India.

'India International Travel Mart' (IITM), launched in 1998, is India's premier travel and tourism exhibition brand and held across major markets in India .

The number of tourist arrivals from India as at June this year, was 145,453, a growth of 27.3 percent.

"We must raise the bar to attract high-spending Indian travellers," said Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau, Rohantha Athukorala.

"We use a combination of below the line marketing such as road shows across key markets such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and now Calcutta given the connectivity of airline carriers and teaming with the private sector to profile Sri Lanka tourism in the travel and tourism fairs to link with the tourism trade of India," he said.

The visiting journalists' program and trade FAMs drive consumer pull, Athukorala said.

The Bangalore IITM was launched with a road show branded 'Sri Lanka - One Island, thousand treasures' with 26 private sector companies, followed by a country profiling and presentation for key personalities in the trade and participation at the IITM Fair by the Sri Lanka Tourism delegation headed by the Market Head for India at Sri Lanka Tourism

- Indrajith de Silva.