‘Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai’: Joint mega promo enters Shanghai to attract Chinese visitors to Sri
Thursday, 3 July 2014 01:16
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Sri Lanka Tourism’s second joint mega promotion campaign in China – ‘Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai’ – was launched in the Shanghai City on 1 July and will be on until 6 July, followed by the major success of its first event held in Beijing last year.
This campaign with joint efforts from public and private sectors has been initiated under the advice of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and is coming to China for the second time following the success of the first phase of this campaign held in Beijing last year.
‘Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai’ event is organised under the guidance of Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa who attended the event in Shanghai.
Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Bhashwara Gunarathna and Sri Lanka Tourism Managing Director Rumy Jauffer along with Sri Lankan travel agents, tour operators, hoteliers and Government organisations are representing the tourism industry of Sri Lanka at this campaign.
‘Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai’ being held under the guidance of the Ministry of Economic Development is heavily backed by the Sri Lankan Embassy in Beijing and the Sri Lankan Consulate General in Shanghai.
The campaign kicked off on 1 July at Pudong Shangri La Hotel in Shanghai with a press conference. Over 120 leading Chinese media representing electronic and print participated in the conference, where Sri Lanka Tourism presented the ‘Sri Lanka Shines in Beijing’ event and its objectives to the Chinese media.
The second major event under this promotional campaign would be a ‘B2B Travel & Tourism Forum’ on 4 July at Pudong Shangri La Hotel targeting travel and trade participants. Over 200 Chinese travel agents and representatives of trade institutions are expected to meet with more than 40 Sri Lankan leisure and trade sector operators at the event.
The event will also see Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau in collaboration with Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators Association of Sri Lanka introducing a special holiday package for Chinese travellers interested in visiting Sri Lanka.
The B2B Travel Forum will be followed by a glamorous ‘Sri Lankan Night’ which will feature a series of activities highlighting the island’s culture and traditions at Pudong Shangri La Hotel on 4 July from 6 p.m. onwards.
‘Sri Lankan Night’ is a colourful event featuring cultural shows reflecting the unique Sri Lankan identity. Over 500 high profile Chinese guest including diplomats, Chinese government officers, travel trade businessman, media, celebrities and travel agents have been invited for this event, which includes mouth-watering Sri Lankan cuisine by leading chefs of Sri Lanka. The vibrant cultural dances of the night will be performed by the students of Kirindiwela Central College of Sri Lanka and choreographed by Master Lionel Guanarathna.
‘Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai’ will gather further momentum with a shopping mall promotional campaign to be held at Nanjing Lu Century Square of Shanghai, running up to three days, starting from 4 July to 6 July.
The shopping mall activation at ‘Nanjing Lu Century Square’ will see Sri Lankan dancers, drummers taking the stage to entertain the Chinese public, while a large number of Sri Lankan firms will display their products and services such as tea, spa, ceramic-ware, gem and jewellery, garments , handicrafts, etc. during the campaign.
Among the exhibitors will be the island’s leading gem traders who display the world’s best blue sapphires among many other gem stones at this event. Local hoteliers and tour operators too will mark their presence at the activation campaign, while the Chinese public will also get the opportunity to taste Sri Lankan cuisine from the food stalls that will be set up at the shopping mall.
During the shopping mall campaign, Sri Lanka Tourism along with tourism partners will offer free holiday packages for the lucky Chinese people who can grab the opportunity by entering into the competitions held during the shopping mall activations.
In line with the events under ‘Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai,’ the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau will execute an major advertising campaign to promote Sri Lanka through outdoor advertising such as LED hoardings, light box advertising and newspaper advertisements, radio jingles, web marketing and also a PR campaign to raise awareness and gain the attention of Chinese travel and trade companies. The campaign will be exclusive to Shanghai city and aims to reach the target audience in Shanghai through an outdoor promotional campaign rolled out during and prior to the event.
‘Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai’ is a major promotional tool Sri Lanka is using towards attracting 2.5 million tourists per annum by 2016; out of the expected 2.5 million tourists to the country, Sri Lanka is planning to attract 275,000 Chinese travellers into the country.
Sri Lanka Tourism, which has identified the growing tendency of Chinese to travel overseas, has conducted a series of promotional campaigns during 2013, targeting those potential visitors. Key among them is the first joint mega promotional campaign which took place in Beijing, ‘Sri Lanka Shines in Beijing,’ and participation in major travel fairs held in China, such as the BITE, CITM, CIT and GITF and tourism road shows in Beijing , Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xian, Kunming and Chengdu. Under the promotional strategy, SLTPB also invited and hosted Chinese journalists and tour operators in Sri Lanka.
Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka is on a steady rise, as the country has received 43,885 Chinese tourists during the first five months of this year, which is a year-on-year increase of 139.6%. The latest jump shows encouraging signs as the Government of Sri Lanka is campaigning vigorously to capture a slice out of the growing Chinese outbound tourism market, which during 2013 in total stood at 102 million tourists.
