Colombo City Tour Turns One Year. Frangipani Flowers on the Logo Symbolises Serendipity

20th January 2011, www.dailynews.lk

The Colombo City Tour, the first open deck city tour operated in a red double decker celebrates its First Anniversary on January 23.

Colombo City Tour is a unique venture launched by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, in collaboration with Ebert Silva Holidays (Pvt) Ltd. with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Transport Board, with its charming logo that includes frangipani flowers symbolizing the connectivity with the city and serendipity.

At present Colombo City Tour operates around the city three days a week (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays) with plans to further increase the frequency with an added choice of tours in the near future.

With Sri Lanka taking off to greater economic heights and the tourism industry playing a pivotal role in boosting and propelling the country towards achieving those goals, the Colombo City Tour is one of the unique ventures spearheaded by Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau acting Managing Director Malraj Kiriella.

The first anniversary celebrations will commence at 4:00 p.m. on January 23 with the presence of Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr Nalaka Godahewa together with other senior officials, and invitees including that of all city hotels and the media among others at the Colombo Galle Face Hotel.

There will be an Anniversary tour on the Colombo City Tour with a live commentary followed by refreshments extended by courtesy Galle Face Hotel, Colombo.

The evening sightseeing tour every Friday synergizes with the ‘Feel Sri Lanka’ show while the morning tours on Saturdays and Sundays are comprehensive tours with stops at the National Museum, Wolvendaal Church, Gangarama Seema Malakaya and the Independence Square with sightseeing of almost all of Colombo.

All tours include a live commentary in English by a professional guide with refreshments included in the morning tours.

Sri Lanka Tourist Arrivals in December up 46.8pct. 2010 ull Year up 46.1pct

12th January 2011, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals in December 2010 rose 48.8 percent to 84,627 from a year earlier, driven by sharp increases from traditional European markets seen due to the winter season, official data showed.

For the full year 2010, arrivals were up 46.1 percent to 654,476.

Tourist arrivals from Western Europe shot up by 54 percent in December 2010 to 30,855 after travel warning in many countries were relaxed or removed after the end of a 30-year war.

The island's peak tourism season coincides with the northern hemisphere winter.

In December, visitors from the United Kingdom, a key market, rose 16.6 percent to 10,176 while those from Germany, went up 23.6 percent to 4,468 people in October, data from the tourist promotion office showed.

The number of visitors from France shot up 74 percent to 3,190, Dutch visitors were up 92.6 percent to 2,340.

Tourists from Denmark, Finland and Sweden saw increases of over one hundred percent during the month.

Visitors from South Asia were up 50.5 percent to 23,087 with Indians increasing 51.2 percent to 15,753. Maldivian visitors were up 44.5 percent to 5,670. South Asian visitors were up 39.2 percent to 175,694 in the Jan to Dec period.

Total arrivals to December were up 46.1 percent to 654,476 from a year earlier.

Related Info:
Sri Lanka Tourism Statistics and Tourist Arrivals

Sri Lanka to be Promoted in European Countries as a Tourist Destination. 12 Themes for Next 12 Months Planned

10th December 2010, www.dailynews.lk, By Harshini Perera

The tourism industry in Sri Lanka will concentrate in promoting Sri Lanka as a tourist destination mainly in European countries. Tourists from European countries are heavy spenders and long stayers and it will be advantageous for Sri Lanka to tap those markets, Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa said.

He said Sri Lanka Tourism is encouraging visits of journalists from foreign countries as a form of introducing the country’s tourism industry to the world.

Within the next five years, one out of seven citizens in Sri Lanka should be involved in the tourism industry and the Government has planned to declare 12 themes for the twelve months next year, Economic Development Deputy Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said announcing Sancharaka Udawa, Tourism Products Meet Mart that will be held on January 27.

He said the Government will reduce bank interest rates to one digit to boost industries including tourism.

Sancharaka Udawa will network a group of tourism related personnel under one roof which will in the long run sustain the tourism industry, Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) President Nilmin Nanayakkara said.

He said that industry lacks foreign language speaking personnel which will be one of the reasons to organize the Sancharaka Udawa, Tourism Products Meet Mart.

There is inadequacy of foreign language speakers especially in Chinese, Spanish, Dutch, French and even English. Sancharaka Udawa will also invite an insurance company to be present on the occasion.

Health and safety measures taken by any tourist destination is the primary consideration of tourists when relating to a country and Sri Lanka should adopt such a system with an insurance company to ensure the health and safety of tourists,” Nanayakkara said.

Visit Lanka 2011 to Woo One Million Visitors

16th November 2009, www.dailynews.lk By Shirajiv Sirimane in London

A series of new promotional techniques would be used to woo one million visitors to Sri Lanka for the ‘Visit Lanka 2011’ program.

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau, Director General Dillip Mudadeniya speaking to Daily News Business after the closing of the four day World Tourism Market said that they would be targeting airline crews all over the world.

“Airline staff all over the world gets free tickets to travel to any destination and we want to promote Sri Lanka to them for their vacation,” he said. “There are over four million airline staff in the world who receive over eight million free tickets per year to travel to any destination.

“We hope to work with SriLankan airlines in this promotion,” he said.

Mudadeniya said that they are looking at the option to offer one free night for this special airline staff package as a value addition to attract them to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Tourism would also launch special programs with international travel agents, tour operators and especially with the media by offering them Familiarization (FAM) tours.

Sri Lanka Tourism also hopes to have a special post-war marketing campaign.

On the participation of the WTM he said that this was Sri Lanka’s biggest delegation for the WTM as the companies want to market themselves exploiting the end of the war.

“WTM is the second largest global tourism global gathering and it opens doors not only for the British sector but to over 200 countries that participate in the event and participation of the event is an investment for the future,” he said.

Minister of Tourism Promotion, Faiszer Mustapha said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was keen on the promotion of tourism SME sector and the Ministry offered to bear 90 percent of the cost of the participating SMEs.

Palace Hotel Negombo, Director Marion Fernadopulle said that they are participating in the event for the first time and they are doing so since they had to pay only 10 percent of the cost.

“We must thank the Government for this move as the hotel has now got invaluable international exposure,” he said.

Image: Dillip Mudadeniya with Hiran Cooray at the WTM. Picture by Shirajiv Sirimane