World Travel Market (WTM), the leading global event of Travel and Tourism Trade, took place from 03rd – 06th November 2014 at the Excel Exhibition Hall, London, UK, to promote international travel throughout the world. Having foreseen the unique opportunity to promote Sri Lanka as a renowned destination in world travel, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) took steps to participate in the event, along with 58 partners of the industry. These industry partners along with Sri Lanka Tourism participated at WTM highlighting many unique travel and hospitality products in an area of 250 sq. meters.
The main objective of this year’s representation was to provide the Sri Lanka travel industry with an opportunity to meet, interact and network with Travel and Tourism industry partners from the UK and around the world to gain an immediate competitive advantage for the Sri Lanka travel industry and to stay abreast with the latest developments in the travel industry.
During the period of the event, Sri Lanka Tourism arranged to give away precious blue sapphire gems at the media briefing at the Sri Lanka stall. A number of exclusive media interviews took place with the view of promoting Sri Lanka under the main theme of ‘Wonder of Asia’, and as an ideal destination for visitors around the world during the press conference.
The Sri Lanka stall showcased traditional Sri Lankan dancing enriched with customs, which provided a very good opportunity for the visitors to get a glimpse into the culturally rich traditions of Sri Lanka. In addition to this, a program to promote Ceylon Tea was held at the time of the exhibition, providing a rare chance to the visitors to enjoy a cup of pure Ceylon Tea.
Under the guidance of the Ministry of Economic Development, the industry of Tourism has witnessed a rapid growth in recent history. Sri Lanka has already become one of the most sought after travel destinations among the UK tourists within the past few years. The arrival figures up to October 2014 from the UK stood at 117,442 tourists while compared to the annual total of last year which was 137,416. With this achievement in hand, SLTPB is looking forward to achieve the expected target by the end of the year 2016 and WTM was indeed a milestone in this journey.
