Thursday, 22 May 2003 |
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Mixed reactions to 'Destination Sri Lanka' by Shirajiv Sirimane 'Destination Sri Lanka' which was organised for the first time at the BMICH has run into criticism by most of the Sri Lanka participants while there was growing praise for the three overseas counters operated by India, the Maldives and Nepal. Many Sri Lankans said that though the tag of the exhibition is 'Destination Sri Lanka', the event has become a promotional event of the individual hotels while the overseas participants are promoting their entire country. Manager Contracts, Tangerine Tours Bazeer Uvaiz, which own and operate star hotels including Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya, said that none of the government institutions such as the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Tea Board or the National Gem Corporation were invited. "Had these Ministries being invited their officials would have given an indepth picture of wildlife activities including the game parks, elephant orphanages and places of cultural interests and the Cultural Triangle. He said that though the SriLankan Airlines flew down overseas participants not a single journalist had been invited. "It is not the fault of the airline as no one had given them instructions on what to do. How can a country gain publicity without the foreign media," he asked. A veteran in the travel field Bazeer said that the organisers should have invited private and government institutions, such as the Sri Lanka Handicrafts Board to put up a stall and institutions, such as the National Youth Services Council where they would have presented folk and Kandyan dances which would have shown Sri Lanka's cultural image. "I think the organisers should have opened this for restaurants and even for casinos. There should have been some fashion shows which would have created an interest." He also said that there were no places to even conduct a meeting or a presentation and the organisers should have thought about this." Manager Special Projects Jinasena Management Ltd, which own and operate Deer Park and Royal Lotus said that the exhibition was not up to the mark. "I think only around 65% of the foreign buyers, turned up and the turnout from the SAARC region is not adequate." She however said that since this is the first time it is a good start and the company had some benefits, since they found some tour operators. "With the ongoing peace process this is the best time to promote Sri Lanka." Another Sri Lankan travel agent said that the facilities at the BMICH were very poor and the space for the event was not at all adequate. "On the first day there was a shuttle service which had been terminated from the second day." He said that the organisers had not allocated a budget for international publicity. The organisers had even ignored the local media and several journalists who wanted to cover this event were not granted entry as the security guards employed by the organisers turned them away. "Some journalists had the humiliation of having to surrender their media pass to the organising Secretariat and enter the hall recalling the times where the National Identity Card had to be given to enter any institution." He said that the hall floor was so slippery that many people had fallen while it was impossible for banners or any other promotional material to be hung from the roof as done in other international events. "But since this hall is a donation from the Chinese government we must appreciate it and do not want to complain too much. It is now up to us to maintain this." General Manager, Sri Lanka Conventions Bureau F. Gopinath one of the main organisers of the event said that they were happy with the outcome of the exhibition. "We got a good foreign clientele and the local participants are also happy. There was a good response for the South Asian workshop which was organised this week. When asked as to why the government institutions were not invited for the event he said that they had invited all Provincial Councils to attend this event and only the Southern and North Western has responded to it. "We were also to provide their booth free. But only two responded. This is not our fault." Many hoped that most of the organising lapses at 'Destination Sri Lanka' would be ironed out for the next major event, the Hospitality South Asia to be held on October 3, 4 and 5. Meanwhile, Director Department of Tourism Kerala India said that the joint efforts to promote the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Kerala as one destination are now paying off. "SriLankan Airlines has said that they would have the Cochin flight to fly to the Maldives as well." He said that there are a lot of tourists visiting Kerala since the Minister of Tourism of India, Prof. K. T. Thomas made a visit to Sri Lanka last year. He said that the Tamil Nadu government recently discussed the proposed ferry service between India and Sri Lanka. Chairman, Airwing Tours Mervyn Fernandopulle said that they had received an invitation from the Kerala authorities to visit them and promote it as a destination for local and overseas tourists. Fernandopulle who has been in the travel trade for over 25 years said that this will create a new market for them and praised the positive efforts taken by the Kerala officials to promote their destination. |
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