Widening paths to promote tourism
Nipuni Wimalapala
Chief guest Industry and Commerce Ministry Secretary
Anura Siriwardene with the organisers. Pictures by Sarath Peiris |
Opening a wider path to promote the tourism industry in Sri Lanka the
Hotel Hospitality & Food (HHF) 2012 fair took place for the second time
at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre from October 18 to the
20.
HHF focuses on catering to the needs of the hotel and hospitality
industry to upgrade the industry and promote it among other countries.
The ultimate target is to make Sri Lanka the tourism hub of the region
with the use of country's natural location and resources plus foods.
HHF 2012 consisted of many tourist attractions, showcasing an
inter-hotel culinary competition among chefs of leading hotels, hotel
uniforms fashion shows and many industry related seminars and workshops
aiming the progress of the industry. Its visitor campaign was directed
at professionals engaged in the hotel and hospitality sector, food and
beverage procurement and investors and operators of hotels in Sri Lanka
and regional markets such as Maldives.
"The Industry and Commerce Ministry has selected 20 firms for the
Food Safety Certification programme and also targeting another 20
industries to gain HACCP or ISO 22000 international standard in food
sector.
"It is significant that the event is taking place at a time when we
see strong growth in our tourism industry resulted by the development
visions of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Economic Development
Minister Basil Rajapaksa. Interestingly, the strongest increase in
arrivals was from both Eastern and Western Europe despite the economic
downturn in the region. We are expecting more than one million tourists
this year", Industry and Commerce Ministry Secretary Anura Siriwardene
said. |