ATM, a boon for Lankan tourism
Shirajiv SIRIMANE
UAE: The Sri Lankan participation at the recently concluded
Arabian Travel Market in Dubai was a success said the Deputy Minister of
Tourism Fazer Mustapha. “The industry presence which was the largest
were able to find deals and partners while the Sri Lanka Tourist Board
too had some productive meetings,” he said.
The Deputy Minister said that he met the Director General of Tourism
of UAE and he promised to assist Sri Lanka in a major way. The Director
General also promised to asset in tourism promotions. “Director General
will also visit Sri Lanka soon for a follow up discussion,” he said.
In addition discussions also commenced with two hotels in Dubai to
get their employees to come to Sri Lanka
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ELEGENT: The Channa Wijewardane Dance troupe performing at the ATM.
Pix by Shirajiv Sirimane
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for advanced training at the Ceylon Hotel School. Though there
is a capacity to train 1500 students currently the Hotel school is under
utilised with less than 450 students.
In addition negotiations were also underway with several hoteliers to
employ more Sri Lankans for their hotels. “Already each five star hotel
in UAE currently employes over 100 Lankans and this is very
encouraging,” he said.
There is a demand for 25, 000 leisure sector employees each year in
the Gulf. The Deputy Minister also met the Kerala Tourism Minister and
discussed way to increase inbound tourism from the province.
Meanwhile the 14th Arabian Travel Market, the Middle East’s premier
travel and tourism exhibition statistics showed a record 10.4 percent
rise in overseas visitors, local visitors were up by 5.3 percent,
overall industry attendance rose eight percent while turnout by Meridian
Club Members, the VIP club operated by Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE),
which organised the event, increased 7.3 percent. Sri Lankan input too
was the highest for the event with over 50 participants.
ATM 2007 was the largest in its history, with some 2,600 participants
from 64 countries, nine new-to-the show participants and 116 new
companies.
The show also attracted a record number of journalists, with 977 in
the first three days, recording a seven percent increase in overseas
press and eight percent in UAE media. |
