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| Friday, 21 November 2003 |
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AITO comes to Sri Lanka Boost for upmarket tourism by Tharika Goonathilake
The AITO conference, one of the leading travel related international tour operator parleys in the world, brings 150 top British independent niche tour specialists to Sri Lanka, for the association's annual sessions, to be kicked off at the Trans Asia and Galle Face Hotels today. Sri Lanka beat competing European destinations including Greece in a highly competitive bidding process to host the parley here which will conclude on November 23. This is also the first time that the AITO conference is being held in Asia. A rare accolade for the country and the region, thanks largely to the efforts made by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) office in UK and the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau. "Sri Lanka as a destination is finding increasing favour in the British market, given the diversity of the country's tourism product that makes it a top travel destination, said AITO Chairman Martin Garland addressing a media briefing at the Trans Asia Hotel yesterday. He said that despite continuing political speculation, the lure of the destination is still intact, "with bookings coming in even last week". Citing Sri Lanka's tourism product to be on par with other competing destinations including Seychelles and Maldives, Garland said the country's main advantage was its `interesting scope' for the holidaymakers. Garland said he foresaw "potential for market growth" given the AITO clientele profile, with a preference for quality holiday experiences ranging from luxury rail holidays to nature, culture and religious based holiday getaways, which he believed "Sri Lanka could offer". Last year, AITO members generated over 2 million holiday visits throughout the world offering a range of experiences both in well known and lesser known destinations. "Sri Lanka is among the countries gaining increasing popularity," he said. Currently only 20-30 per cent of the AITO members offer Sri Lanka as a travel destination. AITO will also highlight Sri Lanka in its annual directory next year, Garland said, which features the world-wide holiday destinations offered by its member companies under innovative and unique holiday themes. Garland said that given the specialised nature of the tours organised by AITO members,"the quality of the holiday experience takes precedence over price for their clientele". Hence, it was not unusual for clients to pay anything between 500 to 1000 Pounds per day. He also commended the efforts made by SLTB officials in U.K including former Director Ranjith De Silva and present Director Charmarie Maelge to bring the AITO conference to Sri Lanka. AITO Vice Chairman Lynette Abblaster, a first time visitor here said that coming to Sri Lanka was a life long dream. The conference cum visit will help to develop new holiday themes for AITO members as well as gauge the country's tourism product, she said. Tea tours that will include a holiday to take in the sights and sounds of the country are new areas that are being looked into, she said. A group of AITO members are expected to return to Sri Lanka in January next year to finalise plans. Abblaster also emphasised that since the AITO holiday formula was based on a quality holiday experience than on quantity based tourism, there was a need for infrastructure that supports this concept. SLTB Director London Charmarie Maelge said that having a high profile event of this nature in Sri Lanka will help generate valuable publicity and confidence in the destination. She said that the AITO parley is an ideal platform to showcase Sri Lanka's tourism product whilst developing mutual business opportunities. Sri Lanka Convention Bureau General Manager Senthil Gopinath said that the bid for AITO was made five years ago and was fully supported by the local industry. "AITO offers an opportunity for the country to lure more niche market consumers," he said. SriLankan Airlines Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives Ranil Wagiswara said that U.K was one of the most important destinations in the airline's network. He said that plans were afoot to introduce two daily flights to U.K from its current 11 flights per week to facilitate the growing demand. Arrivals from UK upto September this year stood at 60,339, a 23.4 percent increase from 48,999 arrivals last year. Wagiswara said that despite political speculations there had been no cancellations and the airline was looking forward to a good winter tourist traffic this year. He observed that the airline's decision to bring in amphibian planes to service domestic tourism hotspots this winter season, which will cut down travel time between domestic destinations, has also resulted in a surge of bookings. According to the AITO Agenda, objectives will be two-fold. Getting to know the country and its tourism product and secondly, developing business opportunities with emphasis on issues within the travel fraternity that should be addressed to ensure market growth and needs. This year's business sessions, will focus on a range of themes such as `Economic Outlook for Specialist Operators,' `The Challenge of Bonding,' `The AITO Customer of the Future', with inputs from key industry personnel. There will also be a Responsible Tourism (RT) Workshop for AITO members and Sri Lanka business suppliers to exchange views on ways and means in which the inbound industry can work with the host community to develop RT policies that could be reciprocal. Several pre and post tours have also been organised for the delegates by SLTB in collaboration with the local industry. Tours include excursions to ancient cities, heritage and tea holidays, wild life and nature, as well as a one day excursion to Sinharaja. An introduction to Ayurveda with insights into `healing holiday opportunities' is also on the cards. AITO members have been given the chance to take in Sri Lanka's `golfing opportunities', as well as a dose of international cricket action, with the courtesy of Dilmah Tea at the England Vs Sri Lanka One-Day International Cricket Match at the Premadasa Stadium. The delegates will lend a hand to raise funds for a community based
project through a charity auction before their departure. |
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Produced by Lake House |
Sri Lanka tourism's efforts to broaden its predominant beach tourism
destination image to a more diverse upmarket tourist holiday destination,
will get a further boost with the commencement of the Association of
Independent Tour Operators (AITO) overseas conference in Colombo this
week.
