Sri Lanka attracts Bangladeshi travellers over 1,000 visitors to Sri Lankan booth at Dhaka fair.
Sri Lanka had participated in the 9th Asian Tourism Fair (ATF) held on 29-30 September and 1 October 2022 at the International Convention City, Bashundhara, in Dhaka. Sri Lanka’s High Commission in Bangladesh in collaboration with SriLankan Airlines had participated in the event.
The fair was reportedly organised with the joint collaboration of the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB), and tourism magazine Parjatan Bichitra under the guidelines of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism of Bangladesh. The Sri Lankan promotional booth was visited by over 1,000 Bangladeshi tour operators, travel agents, individual travellers, and students during the three-day event. The visitors had expressed keenness to visit Sri Lanka after two years of restricted travel faced by many countries in the region.
The High Commission had organised a special cultural evening of Sri Lankan dance performances at the inaugural opening on 29 October and the traditional dances were performed by a student of a Sri Lankan dance school in Bangladesh. Meanwhile, SriLankan Airlines, which has been promoting a special airfare for Bangladesh tourists to Sri Lanka, had offered three return air tickets to Colombo for lucky winners in a daily raffle drawn held each evening during the three-day fair.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is on the path to normalcy after facing the impact of the global pandemic. The country’s tourism authorities are engaged in promotional campaigns in many tourist source markets with focus also being placed on regional tourism. Sri Lanka has carried out several promotional programmes in India, Pakistan and now in Bangladesh as well. Sri Lanka has also recorded an increase in tourist arrivals from the region. There has been much exposure received by Sri Lanka on international media as a must visit tourist destination as well as one of the top island destinations. All these have resulted in the expansion of business/investment opportunities in the country’s tourism industry, especially in the leisure and hospitality sectors. Many international leisure and hospitality brands have expressed interest in entering the country’s tourism industry. This is a clear indication of the growth and business potential in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry with special focus on the leisure and hospitality sectors.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/11102022/X_1 |