Sri Lanka Tourism supports DER Touristik to promote destination Sri Lanka, hosting 60 German journal

Part of the Journalists Group which visited Sri Lanka via collaboration by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) and DER Touristik

SLTPB Chairman with senior officials of DER Touristic

Together with Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), one of the pioneering German travel agents DER Touristik in Germany and its sister company Go Vacations (based in Sri Lanka) initiated media familiarisation tour of Sri Lanka to further promote this well-known traditional destination for German travellers 

Sixty high profile journalists living across Germany representing regional and national newspapers, radio stations, TV channels and magazines participated on the tour. The group was split into smaller groups of 20 with the intention of achieving a wide range of media coverage. The group arrived on 23 January; on arrival Airport & Aviation Services provided the Silk Route service on complimentary basis in order to expedite the immigration process at BIA.

The focus of the media familiarisation tour was to increase destination awareness mainly with the established tourism attractions such as Sigiriya, Dambulla, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Galle and Bentota and to encourage potential German travellers to pick Sri Lanka as one of their top holiday selections to be visited within 2016.

The media familiarisation tour was the very first and the largest organised by  DER Touristik and Go Vacations in collaboration with Sri Lankan Embassy in Germany and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau for the year 2016. At the end of this exciting experience in Sri Lanka, the group of journalists came together to Jetwing Blue Hotel, Negombo in order to exchange their lucrative ideas with the industry professionals in order to maximise the impact from this program.

Germany is the second largest European market for Sri Lankan inbound tourism sector with 115,868 arrivals during 2015. Germany has always been a very important traditional inbound market for Sri Lanka. While targeting for 140,097 German tourist arrivals within 2016, SLTPB’s Visiting Journalists Program is planning to invite high profile travel journalists and media crew from Germany to gain native Germans’ attention towards Destination Sri Lanka as one of the top holiday locations to travel in 2016.