Lanka to host SNAV Congress 2016

Syndicat National Des agents de Voyages (SNAV), the Travel Agents Association in France at its Executive Board meeting recently voted unanimously for Sri Lanka as a venue for its Congress 2016 against other contenders.

The Board meeting was held on the sidelines of the IFTM Travel Fair in Paris.

This is considered a landmark occasion for Sri Lanka Tourism not only with the winning of the bid but also the opportunity to showcase Sri Lanka to over 700 French Travel Agents when they are hosted for the Congress in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lanka Convention Bureau backed by the Ministry of Tourism and Christian Affairs, Embassy of France, Tourism Promotion Bureau, SriLankan Airlines and industry stakeholders pursued the bidding. "It was laborious work and a hectic process with a collective effort," said CEO, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB), Vipula Wanigasekera.

Deputy Tourism Minister Arundika Fernando led the team to Paris.

Sri Lanka's Ambassador in France Tilak Ranaviraja with his trade Deputy Alexi Gunasekera played a major role to keep the rapport going with SNAV from the beginning.

SriLankan Airlines director in Paris and officials in Colombo were effective partners.

According to SLCB officials several factors contributed to the winning of the bid.

The first was effective communication with SNAV, second, the committed participation of everyone, third, the bid document, an eye-catching pictorial presentation of what the visitors would experience in Sri Lanka and fourth was the professional approach.

A Sri Lanka country promotion was conducted the previous day at the IFTM Fair for French travel agents and the media.

The number of French tourist arrivals had moved up from 16,205 in 2009 to almost 80,000 in 2014 and this year so far the increase is almost 10%. France is a primary tourism market for Sri Lanka and through events such as these, Sri Lanka will open her full tourism potential to the French market in the coming years.

"This is the biggest opportunity," said Wanigasekera, adding "France also produces the highest number of Incentive Travellers from Europe which is another key factor for Sri Lanka to bid for this conference. We have got DMC experts who could offer creative programs with 'Wow factors' which is the USP in Incentive Travel over Leisure".

Following a number of promotions and the staging of the MICE Mart by SLCB with Industry Associations recently, some of the overseas participants became influential lobbyists for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka will stage two major travel events within a short period - PATA Annual Summit for 2017 (taking advantage of the guidance of former PATA Chairman Hiran Cooray) and SNAV 2016 (with the help of the experts in the French Market such as Chandra Wickramasinghe and Dileep Mudadeniya).