Honours for MICE tourism at IBTM Barcelona

• Sri Lanka attracts more meetings business

Sri Lanka has shown increasing appeal to the MICE business over the past three years and is working on raising its profile further. Around 10% of the visitors to the island represent the meeting segment out of a total of more than two million in 2016. 

Sri Lanka’s strategy is to focus on infrastructure, product and attraction development, and investments; hence the destination’s increasing number of conference facilities. Shangri-La Hotel Colombo is the latest addition to Sri Lanka’s meeting infrastructure and has the largest pillar-less ballroom in the region, with a capacity of 2,500 (theatre) backed by a second ballroom (504) and 4 smaller spaces. Outdoor dining is available for up to 420 guests. Shangri-La also opened a resort last year in the south of the island, with a 180-hole golf course in 145 acres of land. 

It is also raising awareness in Europe with a view to attracting more business. During a visit to Spain last year, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs John Amaratunga successfully invited the Spanish Travel Agents Association (CEAV) to hold its 2018 convention in Sri Lanka. As a result, president CEAV Rafael Gallego and Manager CEAV Mercedes Tejero will visit Sri Lanka to finalise arrangements for the convention. Around 100 tourism professionals are expected to attend, forging stronger links with Spanish travel agents, promoting Sri Lanka as an important destination from Spain.