Etisalat Lanka Powers BIA Christmas shopping festival 2012

Etisalat Lanka has tied up with the Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka (AASL) as one of its main sponsors for the Bandaranaike International Airport’s (BIA) Christmas Shopping Festival 2012.

The 2-month long annual shopping extravaganza kicked off on 1 December 2012, and will continue till 31 January 2013. The festival, a joint effort between the AASL and the BIA, is conducted in partnership with the Arrival Duty Free shops and Departure/Transit shops with the overall objective of promoting the BIA amongst all airline passengers.

Any airline passenger who purchases goods for more than US$ 10 from any of the shops will be eligible to enter their details, for a Raffle Draw. The grand prize on offer in the raffle draw is a brand new Panda Cross car, while 10 other lucky winners will be able to win several exciting prizes.

In addition to this, passengers in the Departure/Transit areas can try their luck at the ‘Wheel of Fortune’, which gives them a chance to win instant prizes on a daily basis. A total of Rs.1.2 million will be on offer via these instant prizes.

An Etisalat Lanka Sales Counter has been set up to cater to the global travellers diverse and unique mobile telecommunication needs, on arrival or prior to departure. Customers can experience Etisalat’s latest products and services such as 3.75 G, handsets, among many others.

Etisalat has put together a highly-affordable ‘Etisalat Pre-paid Tour pack’ which gives a selection of valuable and free benefits to tourists arriving in the country. This tour pack includes a free tourist guide book of Sri Lanka, free 500 MB data, free local talk time within the Etisalat network, free local talk time from the Etisalat network to other networks, free international talk time worth of Rs. 500, free international SMS’ and international/local news alerts.

It’s offered at an introductory price of US$ 10, which is currently the most competitive and beneficial mobile telecommunication package on offer to tourists arriving in Sri Lanka. During this promotional period, every customer who purchases a pre-paid tour pack will be gifted a free souvenir from Etisalat.

Speaking about the company’s support for this mega shopping festival, Etisalat Lanka Director/Chief Executive Officer Dumindra Ratnayaka stated, “We are proud to be a part of the BIA Christmas Shopping Festival 2012, which has gone from strength-to-strength since its inception in 2010.

We believe in building solid relationships with our customers, and this festival provides us with a fantastic opportunity to reach out to all passengers and showcase our state-of-the-art products.”

Etisalat Lanka Chief Commercial Officer, Robert Lee stated, “We, at Etisalat, firmly believe in bringing convenience to our customers and taking part in this shopping extravaganza, at the BIA and helps us to achieve this objective.”

He added that through this promotion they can reach out to local and foreign tourists as well as the corporate travellers. “We can also show the foreign tourists that a world-class telecom operator, offering the most innovative products and services, available in Sri Lanka to look into their individual needs,” he further added.

Speaking at the launch of the event, Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka), Prasanna Wickramasuriya stated, “With the continuous growth of airline passengers to and from Sri Lanka, the AASL is taking steps to enhance our operations.”

He added that the country is currently enjoying a golden era of aviation. “We are celebrating 100 years of aviation in Sri Lanka this year. With such a significant milestone upon us, we are taking important steps to build up the aviation industry in Sri Lanka.”

He stated that they are confident of increasing their capacity to cater to seven million passengers by the end of 2012 up from the current demand of six million passengers per annum.

The BIA Christmas Shopping Festival started off in 2010 and has continued to grow. The festival focuses on airline passengers and tourists who shop at the Duty Free Complex. In last year’s edition of the festival, a Grand Prize of a Zen Estilo motor car was won by one lucky individual. Five other winners also won cash prizes of up to Rs. 1 million.