Incentive travel gathers momentum at IBTM Barcelona

The Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB) which is the sole Government body to promote MICE tourism to Sri Lanka took part in the biggest MICE trade fair in Europe, IBTM World 2016, last week in Barcelona Spain to entice upscale clients into the country, in a direct approach to bring in MICE travellers from Europe to Sri Lanka.

With over 15,500 industry professionals from 73 countries participating and over 150 destinations represented, IBTM World provided a truly global marketplace to gain worldwide visibility for Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lanka stand was continually crowded with buyers who were keen on obtaining information on Sri Lanka. Local industry participants managed to seal a few deals on the very first day and this is what they had to say:

“Golden Isle was able to pick up some good leads and found that the incentive segment which was slow this year globally is already showing signs of recovery with requests and confirmations for 2017,” Paddy Paul, Managing Director of Golden Isle Travels.

“Buyers were very optimistic of proposing Sri Lanka to its clients for 2018/19 incentive travel,” Shanitha Fernando, President of Authenticities Ltd.