Partnering SLTDA:
Paradise Travels to tap South Korean tourist market
Adventure tourism is very popular among tourists visiting Sri
Lanka. Here, two adventure tourists enjoying a kayak ride
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As the Sri Lanka government and its travel arm, the Sri Lanka Tourist
Development Authority (SLTDA) has launched an aggressive marketing
campaign overseas to ensure 2.6 million tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka by
2016, a new partner in the travel trade, Paradise Travels (Pvt) Ltd with
its close connections with the South Korean resource market, has
launched a media campaign in South Korea to bring in affluent tourists
to Sri Lanka. To achieve the targets of Paradise Travels, two leading
tour operators in South Korea, namely Tour Express and Qui Tours have
given an undertaking to the management of Paradise Travels to lend a
helping hand to this exercise.
During the last two months, three medium size Korean Groups have
arrived in Sri Lanka and the management of Paradise Travels in hopeful
that this number will increase significantly during the next few months,
as Sri Lanka is gaining a unique position as a prime destination in
South Asia with the annihilation of terrorism and the establishment of
peace in every corner of the island.
The management of Paradise Travels has retained the services of U.E.
Perera, a travel professional as its consultant from its very inception
and Perera is hopeful that the vast outbound travel market of South
Korea can be successfully tapped if the right strategies are adopted.
With the economic recovery in 2010, more South Koreans have traveled
abroad he said.
At the same time increased presence of low cost carriers, various
ferries and related package tours have led to cheaper price products
too. All these factors have enhanced outbound tourist traffic from South
Korea. Stabilized exchange rate against the dollar is also one of the
prime reasons for the increase, Perera noted.
Taking into consideration the profile and the promising activities of
the company, the Immigration and Emigration Department has granted a
residence visa for the travel coordinator of Paradise Travels (Pvt) Ltd.
Kim Byoungsu. He is Director of Paradise Travels too. The Chairman and
Managing Director of the company is Upul Thabrew, a prominent figure in
the travel trade, who has mastered the Korean Language during his long
stay in South Korea. |