SriLankan Airlines official carrier for international food exhibition

The international exhibition of food processing, packaging and agribusiness will once again unite on 26, 27 and 28 August to display Sri Lanka’s complete food supply chain at their 10th anniversary show. The exhibition will showcase over 300 stalls including many overseas companies, predominantly from the SAARC region.

SriLankan Airlines is the official airline of this event and will provide discounted airfares for all foreign exhibitors and visitors travelling to Sri Lanka from the airline’s online points. SriLankan Airlines’ route network reaches out to 51 destinations in 32 countries.

“SriLankan Airlines is pleased to support ProFood/ProPack 2011, which is a significant event for the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industry in Sri Lanka. The MICE sector is important to the airline, given the growth the industry has shown over the last two years and of course its valuable contribution to the country’s economy,” said the Airline’s Chief Marketing Officer, MR. G.T. Jeyaseelan.

“We are delighted to have SriLankan Airlines as the official airline sponsor of ProFood/ProPack 2011. This sponsorship will greatly assist our exhibitors, hosted buyers and visitors travelling to Sri Lanka for this exhibition,” said Aasim Mukthar, General Manager of Lanka Exhibitions and Conference Services, the event organising company.  The event will provide a platform to discover and learn innovations in the food processing and packaging services. It is also an opportunity for supermarket buyers, importers and distributors to meet less than one roof in order to establish business contacts through networking and to gain genuine sales leads. In 2010 many companies launched new products and services at this event to reap maximum publicity and to create awareness amongst industry members of technological developments and to introduce state-of-the-art agricultural machinery.

SriLankan Airlines, the national airline of Sri Lanka, is expanding its all Airbus fleet of 17 aircraft and two De Havilland Twin Otters, which are used for its domestic Air Taxi operation.

The airline has a separate MICE Unit comprising a specialist team that has experience and expertise in handling corporate events, meetings, conferences and exhibitions.

This dedicated MICE Unit works with international and local organisations and all professional conference organizers and destination management companies to ensure seamless service to business travellers.

The MICE Unit also works closely with the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB) to identify potential events and to facilitate the transportation of delegates to Sri Lanka.  In order to increase MICE business to Sri Lanka and to keep abreast with the industry, the airline collaborates with the SLCB, forming many joint marketing alliances overseas. It also plays an active role in bidding for international events to be hosted in Sri Lanka.  SriLankan Airlines is the official carrier of many events taking place throughout the island and was the official airline sponsor of the “Squash Championship 2011”, “South Asian Federation Obstetrics & Gynaecology Conference”, “Maldives Youth Vision Exhibition”, “Vesak 2011,” “International Dance Championship,” “Defeating Terrorism Conference and Exhibition” and the “Ayurveda Expo 2011” to name a few events that have taken place this year. As with ProFood/ProPack 2011, the airline offers discounted air tickets for the event organizers to promote the event overseas and it also offers discounted air tickets for guest-speakers and special invitees to travel to Sri Lanka.  

With the addition of new European destinations to SriLankan Airlines’ route network such as Moscow in September and Zurich in December, the airline is hopeful that more incentive groups will be travelling to Sri Lanka, thereby increasing MICE activity in the country.