Tourism promotional campaign in Chennai

The mega show 'Meet Sri Lanka' campaign staged by the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB), Sri Lankan Airlines and MICE industry of Sri Lanka is expected to boost the number of tourists and MICE visitors from South India next year.

This was the most opportune time for Sri Lanka's tourism industry to project of Sri Lanka through its easy accessibility, state-of-art meeting facilities and the profile of the country with value driven tourism with Sri Lankan hospitality.

SLCB together with its partner SriLankan Airlines have been active in the Indian market since 2007 which have generated a large number corporate meetings and incentives, but this is the first time the industry staged a major campaign in Chennai, with one on one business meetings, a press conference, evening function for corporates and tour operators and a Sri Lankan Food Festival with a cultural performances in partnership with the Metropolitan Accord Hotel in Chennai.

SriLankan Airlines flew the internationally renowned Sri Lankan Chef Dr Publis and the popular Dance Director Chandana Wickramasinghe and his Troupe for this special occasion.

The food Festival will continue till November 29 with the cultural performance. Sri Lanka cuisine and dances added glamour to the events that took place recently.

"India is our biggest market and we are only striving to get 8 percent of their outbound MICE traffic by end of next year" which is not a difficult task, considering our strengths in diversity, skills of the industry and the promotional plans for next year' said GM of SLBC, Vipula Wanigasekera. Sri Lankan tourism industry members took part in the promotion thus realising the benefits from meetings where over 50 reputed tour operators attended meetings on Thursday to discuss business with their counter-parts in Sri Lanka.

The 'Meet Sri Lanka' campaign was launched on the following day with a press conference for over 35 media houses in Chennai attending.

Publicity for Sri Lanka started generating from the same day evening through web news and TV.

This was followed by an evening function for over 200 South Indian Tour Operators and Corporates.

Sales and Marketing Manager, SriLankan Airlines MICE division Shyana Wijayaratne detailing the promotional efforts of the national carrier said, "Our objective is to encourage companies and associations in India to hold their meetings in Sri Lanka and towards achieving that we work closely with SLCB and the MICE industry in Sri Lanka".

Sri Lanka's Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai V. Krishnamurthi, Manager designate in Mumbai for SriLankan Airlines Lal Perera, Nimalka Morahela of SLCB took part in these events with 17 industry leaders representing PCOs, DMCs, Hotels, and Service Providers in Sri Lanka.

' Having conducted continuous promotions in major cities of India, SLCB will concentrate on tier two cities in India next year including Jaipur, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Pune and Ahamedabad which are showing to be promising markets for Corporate meetings and Incentives' SLCB said.