AITO organises trade-wide event to boost Sri Lanka tourism

AITO has organised an event aimed at boosting tourism to Sri Lanka in the wake of a downturn following the country’s Easter terror attacks.

The event, called Specialists Support Sri Lanka, takes place in London in mid-July and has been designed to ‘relaunch the destination in the eyes of the consumer’, AITO said.

Led principally by AITO members Experience Travel Group and Travel Gallery, as well as the Sri Lanka Tourism Alliance, which represents Sri Lankan hoteliers, the event also has the support of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London.

Trade and consumer media will be invited to join Sri Lankan specialists, not only from AITO but also the wider UK industry. A programme of personally-tailored visits to Sri Lanka is also being planned.

Sri Lanka Tourism Alliance members will fly to London to meet existing key UK partners – and potential new ones to discuss opportunities to encourage UK visitors.

Sri Lankan food and drinks will be served, speakers will address key topics and updates on Sri Lanka, while a panel of experts will respond to questions from the floor.

AITO chairman Derek Moore said: "Our AITO Sri Lankan specialists have been hugely pro-active in terms of getting tourism to Sri Lanka going again; they know personally, between them, many hundreds of people in Sri Lanka with tourism-related jobs whose livelihoods and income have juddered to a halt.

"Those hundreds, in turn, support thousands of wider family members, all of whose lifeline income from tourism simply dried up overnight at Easter.

"It’s vital that Sri Lanka’s recovery from that blow is speedy and long-lived.  We believe that Specialists Support Sri Lanka will help kick-start a new wave of tourism from UK travellers.

"The aim of Specialists Support Sri Lanka is to bring together the entire UK travel community which works with Sri Lanka – including non-AITO members and some of the much larger UK-based travel companies – to brief the media on the raft of initiatives now available from hoteliers and others in the Sri Lankan tourism industry.

"The aim is, naturally, to incentivise British visitors to return to the island with all due speed.

"We are confident that visitors will be safe, that they will be welcomed with open arms, and that the first visitors who return will themselves act as a valuable word-of-mouth sales team to spread the word about the many marvels of Sri Lanka to their friends, family, colleagues and broader acquaintances.

"Sri Lanka will then be firmly on the road to recovery, and the thousands of people who depend on tourism for their livelihoods will be able to feed their families once more.

"The UK visitor market to Sri Lanka is the number one tourism revenue generator in Sri Lanka, and it’s our mission, together, to get the industry firmly back on track."

Specialists Support Sri Lanka takes place from 7pm to 9pm on Tuesday July 16, at the Royal Over-Seas League, St James’ Street, London, SW1. Registration starts at 6.30pm. The event follows a two-hour slot solely for informal meetings between Sri Lanka hoteliers and their UK tour operator partners.

The event is one initiative that AITO specialists have been working on to help Sri Lanka tourism to get back on track. Others include offering financial help for self-employed driver guides, who play a key part in upmarket tourism to the island.

Any tour operators and hoteliers that wish to attend Specialists Support Sri Lanka should contact [email protected] to book their place. 

Image by Anna Lehmann from Pixabay