Sri Lanka Tourism was able to show its potential as an ideal destination for family trips with its unique sources of entertainment, authentic cuisine and cultural diversity for the Middle Eastern region at the Winter Festival Consumer promotion in Media City Amphitheatre,Dubai, which concluded on 09^th December 2017.

Dubai Winter Festival is run by Turret Media. A multi award winning company, Turret Media has conceptualized, developed and launched some of the most successful live events in the world and is a leading publisher in several market sectors in the Middle East.

Thefestival is a popular consumer event held annually in the month of December targeting the large expat community living in Dubai. Over 30,000 families with their children patronized festival. Sri Lanka was the co-stage sponsor of this popular festival. Amidst the Christmas spirit, Sri Lanka Tourism had the opportunity to showcasean eye catching stand with a wildlife theme enabling families to have a unique photo opportunity and to win airline tickets and holiday packages to Sri Lanka. Winners were selected by way of a raffle draw, where photos/selfies takenin the Sri Lakan stand were shared on Instagram using a “hashtag” created to promote Sri Lanka during the event.

Dubai is relatively a liberal society compared to some of its neighboring cities and therefore has attracted many global expatriates, including people from western nations. Native Emiratis are outnumbered in their own country by a ratio of nine to one. The consumer event was a great opportunity for Sri Lanka to create awareness of the destination to a large expatriate community living in Dubai.