UK bids farewell to Sanjika Perera

The Sri Lanka High Commission held a farewell reception for Sanjika Perera, the outgoing Director for Sri Lanka Tourism UK office, recently.

Graced by Dr. Chris Nonis, the evening was attended by the diplomatic corps of the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, respected members of the travel trade and journalists alike.

During the past four years, Perera has overseen the UK tourism activity to Sri Lanka through varying circumstances.

When he joined in April 2008, the country was in the midst of the civil conflict, making the case for tourism a difficult proposition. In light of these difficulties, credible travel journalists still visited the island to promote the tourism assets Sri Lanka holds and visitor numbers remained stable.

In the advent of the new era of peace in the country, he led the initiative to raise the profile of Sri Lanka’s tourism efforts, culminating in a 28% rise in tourists for 2010 breaking 100,000 visitors from the UK.

His efforts also led Sri Lanka Tourism to be awarded the CIM Marketing Excellence award in 2011 for the innovative ‘2 for 1’ campaign in 2009, an award rarely won by a tourism destination office. The evening was hosted by Dr. Nonis, who commended Perera on his work over the past four years. Pix by Rohan Herath