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Tuesday, 31 December 2013 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
As Sri Lanka was hosting its largest ever international forum, GHOGM 2013 on a grand scale from 10 to 17 November 2013, World Duty Free, Sri Lanka and the UK’s leading duty free retailer organised special campaigns at both Heathrow and Colombo airports.
World Duty Free is the brand name of Autogrill Lanka Ltd., who is a member of the World Duty Free Group (WDFG). WDFG is one of the world’s leading airport retailers who operates over 550 shops in 20 countries across 5 continents.
London – Heathrow Terminal 4 and 5 saw traditional Sri Lankan Kandiyan dancers brightening up the stores with live energetic performances to entertain travellers flying to Sri Lanka during the CHOGM week. The gigantic state-of-the art contentainment advertising screens at the Heathrow airport displayed complimentary and best wishes messages for CHOGM whilst in-store PA systems played Sri Lankan songs throughout the week. This was the very first time WDFG conducted this sort of an activity for CHOGM in the Heathrow airport.
Airport Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited Chairman Prasanna Wickramasuriya stated, “It was a great initiative executed by WDFG and I am sure Heathrow activations must have created awareness, excitement and positive thoughts on CHOGM. It was really unique and special to conduct this kind of activity for CHOGM 2013 in Heathrow and I thank WDFG for making this happen.”
WDFG in Sri Lanka General Manager Samer Obeidat, commenting on the campaign said, “WDFG being the leading duty free operator at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), believed that we had a responsibility to support this significant event by utilising our global strength. We are thankful to the Chairman of Airport Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited who brainstormed this idea. Further we are delighted as we managed to excite Sri Lanka bound passengers at Heathrow during the CHOGM week.”
Further to the activations that took place in Heathrow, World Duty Free proudly played a significant role in presenting the taste of Sri Lankan culture and heritage to travellers at the BIA too, during this historic time span when Sri Lanka had the world’s attention.
The special promotional campaign, ‘Celebrate Sri Lanka’ was activated from 1 to 30 November 2013 at both arrival and departure duty free stores. Promotional decorations highlighted Sri Lankan heritage and what Sri Lanka has to offer to the rest of the world. Store staff adorned themselves in traditional Sri Lankan dresses and in-store PA system played Sri Lankan patriotic songs during the promotion. All the passengers were given the opportunity to taste typical Sri Lanka sweets such as Keum and Kokis and Sri Lankan souvenirs were also given away as promotion prizes at the departure duty free store allowing customers to take memories with them.
