Sri Lanka continues to shine at CITM and BITM 2017

Sri Lanka Tourism continues to show its capability and potential as a creative and a compact destination with vivid diversity, as they received the ‘Excellent Booth Award’ and ‘Excellent Organization Award’ at the China International Travel Mart (CITM) 2017, which was successfully held from 17 to 19 November 2017 at Kunming Dianchi International Convention & Exhibition Centre, Kunming, China. 23 Sri Lankan companies along with Sri Lankan Airlines shared the Sri Lanka stand at the travel fair. 

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Udaya Nanayakkara participated in the roadshow held in Beijing. Sri Lanka Ambassador in China Karunasena Kodithuwakku graced the occasion. The roadshow was well attended by a total of 178 guests including 12 high profile media stations in Beijing and 147 leading tour operators in Beijing. All media and travel agencies expressed that they take tremendous interest in promoting Sri Lanka Tourism and selling Sri Lanka Travel products and packages to local people as well. All those who took part in the roadshow were immensely impressed with the Sri Lankan hospitality with the traditional Sri Lanka dancing performances as well as the raffle draw at the end of the event. 

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Udaya Nanayakkara participating in a media interview in Beijing 

Similarly, a press conference was also held regarding direct flights between Southern China and Colombo, with direct flights between Colombo and Guangzhou. Shanika Dissanayake, Consul General of Sri Lanka to Guanzhou graced the event, amidst a distinguished gathering including Udaya Nanayakkara, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Zen Yinru, Chairperson of Tourism Administration of Guandong province, Chinthaka Liyanaarachchi, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, and a representative of Sri Lankan Airlines. An attractive video which highlighted Passikudah and cultural dance performances also added glamour to the occasion. It was complete included a raffle draw, video presentation of Sri Lanka Tourism which was displayed with a Q&A session, and a sumptuous dinner to follow. Tour operators, ticketing agencies, main industry partners of China Southern Airlines of the Guangzhou province also had an opportunity to connect with their Sri Lankan counterparts to further strengthen their industrial relationships.

China International Travel Mart is the largest professional travel show in Asia, including a gathering of the world’s tourism circles. CITM is an annual event that is held in Shanghai and Kunming alternately. As the largest professional travel show in Asia, CITM has drawn the attention of people in the tourism industry worldwide. It includes travel and tourism industry stakeholders and also airline representatives, car rental companies, hotels, tour operators, travel agencies and travel marketers. 

Traditionally, there has been a year to year increase in Chinese tourist arrivals till 2017, where a slight reduction was indicated during the first half of 2017, mainly due to the Katunayake International Airport partial closure during the First four months of the year, due to runway refurbishment.

Participants in CITM come from all sectors of the travel industry, including international and domestic tourist organisations (including China’s 31 provinces, autonomous regions and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), travel agencies, hotels, airlines and related travel companies.

Kunming is a city which has direct air connectivity by SriLankan Airlines and China Eastern and also grater options of transit air connections by many other international airlines, which provides a healthy environment to promote Sri Lanka tourism in China. Further, Kunming is one of the top cities which generates out bound tourism in China. Hence there is a high potential to develop Kunming as one of the best tourist generating market place for Sri Lanka to attract more Chinese tourists.

The main initiative of this participation was to increase the number of tourist arrivals from China to Sri Lanka and increase a growth of segment of high end Chinese travelers to Sri Lanka and create more awareness about the country, and enable journalists, tour operators, and professionals to visit Sri Lanka. As a result, Sri Lanka will get an established place in the tourism market and create awareness and interest among the consumers and stake holders and make Sri Lanka a desirable tourist destination. In addition, it will provide greater opportunities to Sri Lankan travel industry to engage with the target markets. The CITM Organising Committee was sparing no effort to invite, through various channels, buyers with strong competitiveness from China (including Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan Region) and other countries and regions in the world, to participate in the mart. Randima Madhavi, Junior Manager – Marketing, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, attended the CITM as the Sri Lankan representative. 

In parallel to these major events, the Whan international tourism expo and Chengdu tourism expo were also held, as well as three roadshows in Chengshu, Chengdu and Whan, organised by Sri Lanka Tourism. Sri Lanka Tourism also took part in the Beijing International Travel Mart (BITM) 2017 which was held from 16 to 18 November at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, China. Chinthaka Liyanaarachchi, Assistant Director, represented the event on behalf of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. Further in connection with the BITM travel fair SLTPB organised two Tourism Promotion Roadshows in Taiyuan and Beijing on 14 and 20 November respectively, to create an effective and efficient networking platforms between the travel trade of two countries. 18 Sri Lankan companies along with Sri Lankan Airlines shared the Sri Lanka stand at the travel fair. Sri Lanka Tourism received the ‘Best destination’ award at the BITM 2017. The commercial councillor Ruwanthi Ariyarathna from the Sri Lankan Embassy in Beijing graced the occasion.

Beijing is a city which has direct air connectivity by Sri Lankan Air Lines and Air China, and in addition there are greater options of transit air connectivity by many other international airlines, which provides a healthy environment to promote Sri Lanka tourism with in the northern region of China. Beijing is one of the top cities which generates out bound tourism in China. Hence there is a high potential to develop Beijing as one of the best tourist generating market place for Sri Lanka to attract more Chinese tourist in the upcoming years.

Since the out bound tourism sector of China is growing rapidly at an annual average growth rate of 18%, the potential of attracting more numbers of high end Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka is very high. In order to utilise this opportunity at an optimal level, SLTPB decided to expand the promotional activities further in the Chinese market and therefore entering in to new market places by focusing on second tire cities which generates considerable outbound tourism in China. This will enable local travel agents meet travel agents in China and encourage them to work with Sri Lankan travel trade and create more awareness about Sri Lanka and its tourist attractions.