‘Sancharaka Udawa’ expo from June 7

And for the first time, Sri Lanka Travel Mart will be held in concurrent with ‘Sancharaka Udawa’ exhibition in order to create an additional impetus to attract more tourists to Sri Lanka.The event will be an ideal platform for small and medium service providers in the industry to create much needed business links with tour operators and enter the wider spectrum of the tourism industry.

Organizers of the event are confident that the event will also help create a substantial increase in bookings to the small time tourism service providers in various regions. The event will also see the participation of over 300 exhibitors and 10,000 plus visitors.Stalls for tourism related Government departments such as the Department of Wildlife Conservation, Tourist Police and other such organizations will be provided free-of-charge to build good rapport between these organizations and the industry.

Several universities such as Colombo, Uvawellassa, Kelaniya, Sabaragamuwa and Rajarata have also been provided stalls free-of-charge to encourage students studying tourism and give them an opportunity to interact with trade officials.Interesting sessions have been organized concurrently, which will add value to trade visitors and the general public. In order to ensure that Sancharaka Udawa is a well-publicized event, a well-planned marketing campaign will be executed to attract exhibitors, including an advertising campaign using digital and traditional methods and media, along with road show.

The exhibition will culminate with a gala fellowship event for new comers entering the industry and meeting veterans in the field. An award ceremony will also be held for Best Stall Creations.Kishu Gomes, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) and Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) speaking at a press conference held to announce the ‘Sancharaka Udawa’ exhibition on Wednesday, said, SLTPB along with SLTDA currently run a digital marketing campaign covering all key markets while another campaign is being done with CNN with a view to promote Sri Lanka as one of the most preferred tourist destinations in the world.

“In addition, we’ re currently going through a process in order to select a marketing partner who would strengthen our newly launched new destination brand identity entitled ‘So Sri Lanka, while promoting all other tourism themes or sub brands in key markets across the world.“Based on the work that is being done, I believe we should be able to have the marketing agency working with us by June in order to create greater awareness in a manner where we will be able to promote and take our brands to the rest of the world.”

He also said tourism as a business is becoming more competitive with many other countries making a great deal of efforts to promote their respective destinations across the world.“We are confronted with that level of highly competitive, vigorous campaigns and initiatives,” he said.