Lanka’s newest brand to be launched at ITB Fair in Berlin

Hiran H. Senewiratne in Berlin

Sri Lanka’s newest brand will be launched during the International Tourism Exchange 2009, better known as ITB 2009 in Berlin from March 11 - 15.

This event is the largest travel and tourism exhibition in the world, said Deputy Minister of Tourism Faizer Musthapha.

“We will be able to attract not only German tourists but also tourists from other countries,” Deputy Minister Musthapha told Daily News Business. It will be inaugurated today and will continue till March 15 in Berlin, Germany.

Minister of Tourism Milinda Moragoda will be the chief guest at the launch and officials of the Ministry of Tourism, Sri Lanka Tourism, Tourist Promotion Bureau and other industry stakeholders will participate.

The Deputy Minister said that the events at the ITB Berlin and World Travel Mart (WTM) in London will be on top of the agenda of Sri Lanka Tourism, to promote the country and attract more foreign tourists to Sri Lanka while building networking among other industry stakeholders.

Initially, Sri Lanka was branded as a “Land Like No Other” and with the launch of the new brand we could promote Sri Lanka as a value-for-money destination among tourists in the world, he said.

He said that they are using all energies to launch the brand at the event and are expecting a large gathering at the ceremony. “With the new brand we will continue to promote tourism globally,” he said.

Deputy Minister Musthapha said, “There is an acute drop in the number of tourist arrivals especially Germans to Sri Lanka and with the dawn of peace and harmony in the country we expect a major upturn in the sector in the country”.

He also said that the German government has softened its travel advisory to Sri Lanka and anticipated an upward swing in the number of German tourist arrivals this year. Sri Lanka Tourism is expecting an increase of 20 per cent German tourist arrivals this year.

He also said that they are targeting tourists from the Middle East and Asian tourists as well and this event is a tremendous opportunity to promote them.

Several leading leisure sector companies, tour operators and other stakeholders are participating in the event. The leisure sector companies including John Keells Hotels, Aitken Spence, Jetwing Hotel and Travels and Confifi Hotels are some of the leading companies at the event.