Tourism & Hospitality | Wednesday 11 April, 2018 1:56 pm |

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau has successfully concluded a two-day promotional mission to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of its on-going efforts to develop new markets and increase the number of visitors and spend from the region to Sri Lanka. Headed by Mr. Anjantha Ratnayake, Assistant Director, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, a delegation of twenty partners from Sri Lanka’s tourism and hospitality industries visited Dammam and Riyadh and held the roadshow at Holiday Inn Corniche and Holiday Inn Qasr last April 8 and 9, 2018, holding one to one meetings and informational seminars with leading travel agency representatives and outbound operators in each city.

Mr. Anjantha Ratnayake, Assistant Director, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, commented, “The mission has been a resounding success, with excellent attendance with the right partners in each of the cities visited, and our co-participating Sri Lankan industry partners reporting highly productive meetings that will result in increased business and travel to Sri Lanka from the region.” 

In 2017, Sri Lanka received a total of 78,873 tourists from the Middle East region with KSA topping the rank with the most number of tourist visitor arrival from the region with a total of 35,481 visitors. Currently there are 28 direct flight services a week connecting Saudi Arabia to Sri Lanka suggesting the potential to grow and develop the market further is great, especially as travellers from the country on average have one of the highest travel spends in the world. This will result in not only return dividends for Sri Lanka’s tourism and hospitality industries, but also for the retail industry.

Ratnayake added, “Sri Lanka has much to offer visitors from KSA with our distinctive, adventure-packed, eco-friendly, family-focused experiences and offerings, as well as our rich nature, heritage and culture, year-round schedule of festivals and special events, numerous parks and eco centers, luxury resorts and wellness centres, and romantic settings for honeymooners and couples. Our mission has done much to put Sri Lanka on the map and in the hearts and minds of KSA-based travel partners, and in combination with future promotions planned for the country and the region, I’m confident we will see many more visitors from KSA making Sri Lanka their next holiday destination of choice in the coming months.” 

In each of the cities visited over a hundred key outbound travel professionals attended the Sri Lanka Tourism workshops and seminars to learn more about Sri Lanka’s touristic offerings and business opportunities to promote destination Sri Lanka to their clients. Both events was also attended and supported by Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia His Excellency Ambassador Mohamed Azmi Thassim along with Sri Lankan Commercial Secretary to KSA Mr. Gayan Rajapakse.

A total of Thirteen (13) industry partners from Sri Lanka-based tourism and hospitality entities joined the roadshow including; Aitken Spence Travels, Isra Holidays, Centuria Travels, I Am Sri Lanka, Araliya Green Hills Hotel, Explore The Wonders, Asian Adventures Travel Management Company, Exotic Global Holidays, Figco Lanka Holidays, Fun Holidays, Jetwing Travels, World Travel Center Colombo and Sri Lanka Airlines. 

The KSA mission was successfully coordinated by AVIAREPS, the world’s leading destination marketing and promotion company with 63 offices in 47 countries around the world.