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Sunday Dec 15, 2024
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The Arabian travel market (ATM) is the largest annual professional and official exhibition for the tourism market in the Middle East, which provides global exposure and business & travel opportunities for the tourism sector. The Arabian market is important for Sri Lanka, as it brings a large number of tourists annually and revenue to boost up the country’s economic sector.
The press conference of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) at ATM 2019 Dubai was a well-attended event, with the participation of over 50 media personnel representing the leading global and regional media organizations. This was in addition to many electronic and print media interviews done on one-on-one basis at the Sri Lanka pavilion, which included CNN, Euro News, and Khaleej Times. There were other interviews done in the studios of media houses including Dubai Eye.
Almost one week after the horrendous terrorist attack in Sri Lanka, the ATM media platform was a great opportunity to enlighten foreign media on the current situation in Sri Lanka, and efforts that are being taken by the Tourism Ministry and the industry in lieu of safety and security of tourists.
The head table panel at the press conference consisted of the Consul General of Sri Lanka for Dubai & Northern Emirates Charitha Yattogoda, Sri Lanka TourismChairman Kishu Gomes, Sri Lankan AirlinesCEOVipula Gunatilleke, and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Public RelationsDirector Dushan Wickramasuriya. The tourism industry was represented by Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO)Past PresidentNalin Jayasundara, and The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) Executive Committee member Bandula Ekanayake.
The press conference started with all media observing two minutes’ silence in honour of the innocent victims of the terror attack. Chairman Kishu Gomes expressed his deepest sympathies and condolences to all the victims and their families, while wishing a speedy recovery to all those injured and currently receiving treatment. Speaking at the press conference, Gomes gave a detailed update on the current situation, impact on the tourists, and actions taken by the Government to support all tourists affected by the incident. He further highlighted the confidence placed by the military to bring the situation under control and cleared doubts on the security and ability to provide necessary security support to the industry. Learning from other countries who were affected by terrorism and other natural disasters were highlighted. He continued by saying that Sri Lanka Tourism has not stopped any promotional activities, and will continue with all planned activities for 2019 as Sri Lanka Tourism will not leave any room for terrorist to beat the nation. The current issue is only safety-related, and the tourism value proposition remains unchanged, which has been enjoyed by millions of tourists from across the world. With a safe environment being restored in the immediate future, Sri Lanka Tourism is confident that global travellers will again look at Sri Lanka for potential travel.
The video which was launched at ITB to showcase Sri Lanka through the eyes of the animals, which evokes the essence of the new branding – ‘So Sri Lanka’ was played at the press conference, to refresh minds of all present on the unmatchable tourism products and portfolios offered by Sri Lanka. Chairman Gomes further made a request for the global media and other stakeholders to stand with Sri Lanka Tourism in its efforts to beat the global tourism. He further re-iterated, unless the entire country comes together and defend the whole world from terrorists, there will be more attacks in time to come: “it was Sri Lanka this time,and next time it can be your country. Let us unite and work against global terrorism under which tourism industry can thrive for all tourism destinations to benefit from!”
Speaking at the press conference, the Consul General of Sri Lanka to Dubai and Northern Emirates Charitha Yattogoda conveyed the appreciation and the gratitude of the Government of Sri Lanka to the Government of United Arab Emirates, particularly Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Emirate of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, for the solidarity shown by conveying condolences as well as lighting up Sri Lanka’s national flag on Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper, and other prominent landmarks in Dubai.
Additionally in his closing remarks, he said that it is evident that the attack of 21 April on Sri Lanka is an internationally motivated terrorist act similar to some of the attacks carried out in the past on some other tourist destinations, and it is not considered as a homegrown terrorism act of recurrent nature. He further said that Sri Lanka is one of the very few countries in the world that were able to defeat terrorism completely, enabling everyone to enjoy absolute peace in the country for a period of almost 10 years in the past, if not the only country that was able to do so. Hence it is proven that Sri Lanka’s security forces are capable of containing the situation in full.
Given the current circumstances, the head table was presented with many important questions which were addressed by the headtable to the satisfaction of the audience.
