Grand finale in the capital of the Russian Federation

Moscow, the billionaires’ city which attracts more than five million tourists annually and never sleeps, was the main centre of the tourism campaign Mega Tourism Road Show 2013 conducted by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in the Russian Federation in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. Earlier this week, the road show concluded the first phase of the tourism campaign at the shopping mall Mega Belya Dacha in Moscow.

The events were mainly conducted at the shopping mall with enchanting performances by a Sri Lankan dance troupe, liquid tea service, distribution of promotional materials and videos on the tourism industry.

Apart from the audio and video CDs produced by the Embassy, journalists and media personnel from both Russia and Ukraine have produced 56 documentaries on Sri Lanka covering all spheres of travel and trade. A majority of these groups were coordinated and arranged by the Embassy and sponsored by the SLTPB. 

Due to the promotional events undertaken by the Embassy, SLTPB and other private sector enterprises, there has been a substantial increment of tourist arrivals from Russia and CIS region. During 2012, tourist arrivals from Russia and CIS countries were 51,746, an increment of almost 64% in comparison to the arrivals in 2011 (2011 – 31,592). The following illustration indicates the annual increment of tourist arrival from CIS countries.

Major participants on the concluding day were Laksala, Siddhalepa, Concord Exotic, Nkar Tours, Geern Holidays, Delux Holidays, Royal Holidays and Bernard Tours.