Sri Lanka to be promoted in the French market through reality show

Monday, 17 February 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Tourism & Peking Express (Belgium) sign landmark agreement

By Cheranka Mendis The enthralling beauty of Sri Lanka will be showcased to the French market through their popular television adventure reality program ‘Peking Express’ in its 10th series. With 330 minutes of exposure with the title ‘Share the dream,’ the series will be recorded in Sri Lanka starting next week, and the end product will be broadcasted in France, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Morocco. "The program‘Peking Express’ will showcase entire three episodes out of the 11 taking place in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka will get 330 minutes of exposure with the title called ‘Share the dream’."

Signing an agreement with Belgium based film production company The Eco Ltd. (ECL) last week, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau noted that the media value of the exercise exceeds Euro 1 million. Five of the 11 episodes will be filmed here. Peking Express is a Dutch/Flemish reality game show that follows a series of couples as they hitchhike their way towards the final location. The couples are given US$ 1 per day and are expected to work together with the communities they are in to find food, lodging and the routes to the next mentioned location. The participants count on the hospitality of the local population, Peking Express Program Director Philip Hendrickz said. “This will be a good opportunity for Sri Lanka to showcase their hospitality to the world.” He also noted that the designated route will take the couples to some of Sri Lanka’s most fascinating places covering not only the popular beaches, but covering and showcasing a range of hotspots. Sri Lanka Tourism will be facilitating the stay and granting necessary approvals and waive off crew registration charges, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Managing Director Rumy Jauffer said. Jauffer added: “This is a great opportunity to develop and broaden tourism potential in the French market, an emerging tourism market for Sri Lanka.” The crew will be in Sri Lanka for 12 days. The Peking Express series has already gone through five seasons. In the Netherlands it is screened by Net 5 and in Belgium by VT4. A German version was shown in 2004. The concept has also been sold to Scandinavia where it was broadcast for the first time in the autumn of 2007. The Scandinavian version is shown on Kanal 5 in Sweden, TV Norge in Norway and Kanal 5 in Denmark. A French version named Pékin Express is screened by M6, with nine seasons aired by 2013. It can be seen on TV5 outside France. In Spain, the local version Pekín Express is shown on Cuatro, with four seasons by 2011. An Italian version has been produced in 2012 by RAI and shown on Rai 2 with success; a second season will be broadcast in 2013. In this connection, a team of 48 members is in Sri Lanka from 14-25 February 2014 for the filming of the three episodes of this show.