The key initiative of Sri Lanka Tourism is to encourage travelers all across the globe to visit Sri Lanka as a global travel destination, and a place where there is a myriad of travel and holiday opportunities to choose from. Sri Lanka is also known as a destination renowned for its sports tourism, wedding and film tourism, filled with exquisite, locations for the perfect moment. Even amidst a turbulent situation, with the constant effort by Sri Lanka Tourism, the destination has been able to enjoy an increasing number of Tourist arrivals especially from Russia and Ukraine. Sri Lanka Tourism was able to end the year 2021 on a high note as, an increasing number of tourist arrivals were recorded towards the end of December 2021. The Tourism Industry is gradually progressing forward with its growth of tourist arrivals, and has a positive attitude of regaining its former status as one of the most sought after holiday destinations.

                                                                ( Welcoming the delegation )

In order to encourage more tourists from the CIS region, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) organized a Familiarization Tour for a group of twelve travel agents from Russia and Ukraine.  

The main purpose of the FAM tour was to convey the messages to the travelers in the CIS region that Sri Lanka is a safe and an attractive destination for tourism, filled with a myriad of holiday opportunities to choose from. Also another key opportunity is the direct connectivity from Russia to Colombo, without any transits.

Considering the importance of attracting more tourists to Sri Lanka by creating great awareness on the destination, it was decided to showcase the tourism products and services to the foreign consumers by giving them the opportunity to experience a tour in Sri Lanka with the purpose of attracting more tourists from Russia & Ukraine, also encouraging them to promote the destination among potential travelers as the best destinations to visit during their holiday season. 

Travel Agent Familiarization tours have been identified as an important activity to invest on the trade as the travel community is seeking the advice of the travel agents / operators in organizing their tours.  It has been identified the importance of targeting tour operators in the travel trade as they are the focal point in promoting Sri Lanka to the Travelers. The visitors were impressed by the beauty and culture of the destination, and most importantly, the warm hospitality of its people, for which Sri Lanka is known as the ‘’Land of smiles’’.

During their stay in Sri Lanka they visited some of the main attractions in Sri Lanka and some hotels. Furthermore, SLTPB gave the opportunity to develop new business contacts to promote the destination for the local travel trade partners and hoteliers by arranging a successful B2B session for over 70 Sri Lankan DMC’S and Hoteliers, where they participated with much interest and enthusiasm.

                                        ( Mr.Dushan Wickremasuriya, Director Marketing, SLTPB )