Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) the nation's catalyst for tourism promotions & development, together with i-Cable TV Entertainment- Hong Kong, which happened to be one of the top TV Corporations in Hong Kong, has taken the initiatives of promoting Destination Sri Lanka in Hong Kong by hosting for a media team of their latest travelogue called ‘Travel With My Guitar'. Hong Kong base, popular female singer duo ‘Robynn & Kendy’ had been part of this travel and leisure program as the main hosts. Through the participation of this popular celebrity figures, Sri Lankan Tourism will be expecting achieve higher viewers reach to this travelogue by creating a bridge between Destination Sri Lanka and potential Hong Kong travelers.

As a media company which own over 50 their own channels and further in partnership with many other both local & foreign TV Channels in mainland China, Singapore, New Zealand i-Cable TV Entertainment is one of the oldest TV corporations base in Hong Kong. The travelogue, Travel with My Guitar will be an inducement for potential Hong Kong travellers to visit destination Sri Lanka as their key choice when planning the next holiday. The content of this travelogue consist of Sri Lankan music trends, values of local culture & heritage, wildlife, nature, beach and luxury accommodation covering various part of the island.

Popular celebrities in the local music scene, including Umaria Sinhawansha & Iraj Weerarathne have offered their fullest support to this destination promotion exercise together with Colombo City tour provider Ebert Silva Touring Co. Ltd. Also, members of Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) & The Hotel Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) have given their support to succeed with this destination promotional program.

Sri Lanka will be featured in two episodes of Travel with My Guitar program (one hour on each episode) and it is expected broadcast during the same month of May in Hong Kong and later in mainland China as well. This travelogue will be broadcasted through several channels those are belong to i-Cable TV Entertainment in Cantonese and also will be subtitled in English.

With this promotional media familiarization activity under the Visiting Journalist Program (VJP),Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) focusing on to gain greater access to strong Hong Kong with over seven million population and the outbound tourism market numbered over 4.8 million tourists departures during the 2001. It has grown rapidly over the years to become one of the largest outbound tourist generators in the Asia-Pacific region. Through such promotional media programs, SLTPB is targeting to attract high end holiday seekers from Hong Kong those who able make a vital impact to tourism base local economy.

During the next several years, Sri Lanka will be targeting to position itself within the high end international outbound clientele with a minimum expenditure of USD 250 per night, simultaneously maximizing the number of nights to over 10 days per every holiday experience. As a colorful & compact tropical nation carrying a greater influence of culture & tradition, Sri Lanka has the comfort & relaxation of a paradise to offer the potential Hong Kong tourists.

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) has setup various strategic plans to launch aggressive promotional campaigns during the year 2016 and so far the progress has been made by Sri Lanka Tourism under its Visiting Journalist Program (VJP) is tremendous. Apart from the above celebrity travel program targeting on Hong Kong outbound travel sector, SLTPB- VJP has also undertaken both TV and press related promotional media campaigns in France, Australia, USA, UK, Belgium, South Korea and Sweden. Also, further arrangements have been made to touch down rest of the important markets as well including UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, Middle East, etc.

Together with Korean Broadcasting Systems (KBS) & Sri Lanka mission for Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) the nation's catalyst for tourism promotions, has taken the initiatives of promoting Destination Sri Lanka in Republic of Korea by inviting for a media team of their one of the top rated travel programs called 'Everywhere K'. SLTPB will be hosting to this media team during their 10 days Familiarization Tour program in Sri Lanka covering most of the highly regarded national attractions including Heritage & Cultural sites, Beauty of Nature in Highlands, Safari, Whale Watching & traditional local lifestyle in different part of the island. The KBS media crew has planned to film a travel documentary about destination Sri Lanka which will be broadcast in Republic of Korea. Members of Sri Lanka Inbound Tour operators Association & The Hotel Association of Sri Lanka have also shown their fullest support to succeed with this promotional program.

With these promotional media familiarization activities, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) focusing on to get access to strong South Korean outbound tourism market which numbered over 14 million tourists departures during the previous years. This is witnessing to the possibility of every one in four of the South Korean citizen having the financial capability of traveling abroad for their holiday. Identifying, the potential strength of this South Korean outbound tourism sector, SLTPB targeting to receive 20,000.00 tourists arrivals from South Korea during the year 2016 by surpassing the last year 14,300 arrivals.

Over the recent years, South Korean tourism sector (both inbound / outbound) has gained a significant growth despite the high competition receiving from neighboring commercial giants such as Japan & China and growing doubtfulness of political stability mainly due to the continues red alarming from North Korea. During the previous year, per capita income showed USD 23,000 making the outbound tourism sector much stronger and that creates a greater opportunity for regional nations including Sri Lanka.

Large number of holiday trips made by South Koreans is mainly within the regional making the top 12 destinations are Asian nations except to United States. However, most of the elite South Korean frequent travelers still give their first choice to Europe as the possible holiday destination making around one million out of the total 14 million travelers. Sri Lanka will be seeing to position itself in the middle of potential high-end clientele from South Korea. As a colorful & compact tropicalnation carrying a greater influence of Buddhists Culture Sri Lanka has all the comfort & relaxation of a paradise to offer the South Korean tourists.

Under the guidance of Hon. Minister for Tourism & Christian Affairs Mr. John Amarathunga &well-known industry veteran the present Chairman of SLTPB Mr. Paddy Withana, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) has setup plans to release an aggressive promotional campaignin 2016, within the selected potential markets to compete with the potential competitors in the region. As part of the plans, Public Relation division at SLTPB are planning to bring down highprofile journalists from key markets under their Visiting Journalists Program (VJP) increase global awareness on destination Sri Lanka.

The Great Ramayana is the first of two ancient Indian heroic epic poems, traditionally ascribed to the Hindu muni Valmiki which is also one of the largest ancient epics in world literature.According to the Hindu tradition, this is considered to be the first poem. The epic story circulate around Lord Rama, Seetha, Rawana and Hanuman has always been highly regarded by many Indians and even Sri Lankans , regardless of the its hindu religious influence. The story depicts the duties of relationships and represent perfection of ancient social characters like prefect father, loyal servant, ideal brother, beloved wife and the great king. The Ramayana was an important influence on Hindu life and culture. Like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana is not just a story: it presents the teachings of ancient Hindu interspersing philosophical and ethical elements. There are many other versions of the epic Ramayana, besides Buddhist and Jain adaptations, there are also Indonesian, Cambodian, Filipino , Thai, Lao, Malaysian and Burmese versions. Carrying a greater weight from the epic story, Sri Lanka (aka Lankapura) shares a special bond with India geographically, historically, culturally and spiritually. There are many sites in Sri Lanka where believed to be connected to the great Ramayana.

Realizing the touristic value of this legendary story, Sri Lanka Tourism has invited to one of the top Indian regional TV Channels 'TV9' during the month of June, to create a promotional TV Documentary targeting regional communities and sates of India. Under this promotional media activity the proposed 'Ramayana TV Documentary' will be aired on five different sates of India, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andra, Thelengana and Karnataka. The documentary will be translated into various regional and international languages including Telugu, Kannada, Marathi,Gujarati and English. It will be on aired during the month of August, just before one of the India's main religious event called Diwali which will be taking in p lace 30th October. Diwali festival commemorates Lord Rama's return to his kingdom Ayodhya after completing his 14-year exile.

The proposed media familiarization tour has been designed and organized under the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau's Visiting Journalist program and the project went on covering 20 popular Ramayana sites around the island within 13 days. Greater level of support has been given into this destination promotional program by the members of The Hotel Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) and Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators Association (SLAITO).