Sri Lankan delegation at ITB meets key German stakeholders

Meeting with DRV German Travel Association (from left): SLTPB Managing 

Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam, Ambassador of Sri Lanka for 

Germany Karunasena Hettiarachchi, DRV Managing Director Dirk Inger, 

Sri Lanka Embassy First Secretary and Head of Chancery Ahamad Razee, 

DRV Head of Political Affairs Volker Adams 

Meeting with Lufthansa Group (from left): Director Marketing Madubhani Perera, Sri Lanka Embassy First Secretary and Head of Chancery Ahamad Razee, SLTPB Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam, Lufthansa Group Head of Policy Dr. Kay Lindemann and Ambassador of Sri Lanka for Germany Karunasena Hettiarachchi 

Meeting with Etihad and Minister Amaratunga

ITB Berlin is an excellent platform to interact with high level tourism stakeholders and key decision makers from many tourisms related industries globally.

Improving and creating direct airline connectivity from Europe to Sri Lanka and linking up with German Travel Associations were some of the major focus areas of the Sri Lankan delegation which included Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs John Amaratunga, Senior Advisor to the Minister Felix Rodrigo, Sri Lanka Honorary Consul of Germany Nihal Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam, and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Director Marketing Madhubani Perera. 

Managing Director Dirk Inger and Head of Political Affairs Volker Adams, of the Deutscher Reise Verband (DRV) known as German Travel Association was optimistic on arranging a trade familiarisation tour of Sri Lanka for a large group of members of their association. This was expressed at the meeting held during ITB 2018 with DRV, senior officials of SLTPB and Sri Lanka Embassy in Germany.

Welcoming the proposal, the SLTPB MD assured DRV that Sri Lanka Tourism in collaboration with the tourism industry stakeholders of Sri Lanka would provide the necessary support which will have a mutual benefit for Germany and Sri Lanka. Facilitation of the tour in Sri Lanka and arrangement of B2B sessions were also discussed at the meeting to make the trade familiarisation tour a success.

DRV is a leading travel association consisting of tour operators, travel agents as well as associated members such as airlines, railways linked to the tourism industry. DRV represents approximately 85% of the total revenue of the German travel and agency tour operator market. DRV supports the interest of small, mid-size and large companies in the travel industry in Germany. Hosting such an event in Sri Lanka will pave the way to gain new contacts within the German tourism industry. 

With regards to direct air connectivity, Vice President of Edelweisss Airlines met senior officials of Sri Lanka Tourism to discuss promotional activities related to its inaugural flight to Sri Lanka in November 2018. Edelweiss is a Swiss upmarket leisure airline wholly owned by Swiss International Airline which is part of the Lufthansa Group. In the lead up to the inaugural flight, SLTPB agreed to arrange a group of high profile foreign journalists and bloggers on a familiarisation tour of Sri Lanka. This will ensure maximum support to make this venture a success. Additionally, number of promotional activities, are being planned by the airline to create awareness of the destination.

Lufthansa group Head of Corporate Affairs Dr. Kay Lindemann expressed interest to start direct connectivity with Eurowings, which is a German based airline of Lufthansa group catering to travellers. Discussions were also held with Condor Airlines, a German leisure airline based in Frankfurt to explore the possibility of commencing direct flights to Colombo. 

Etihad VP, Marketing Partnership Patrick Pierce was optimistic on the growth potential in the European-Colombo sector for leisure travel. Minister Amaratunga who chaired the meeting requested for greater co-operation with the airline to bring more traffic to Sri Lanka. At the meeting, Etihad offered complimentary airline tickets to the winners of the social media competition carried out by Sri Lanka Tourism during ITB.