Sri Lanka makes inroads in Nordic countries

The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau took another step of taking Sri Lanka to the world by arranging their inspiring road shows in the Nordics, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka missions in the respective countries. The SLTPB visited the Nordic countries with the purpose of making Sri Lanka a favourite tourist destination and to generate a good travel market. The four Nordic capitals included Copenhagen, Denmark, Stockholm, Sweden, Oslo, Norway, and Helsinki, Finland.

As the first effort of promoting Sri Lanka in these countries and in order to gain more tourist attraction, workshops were held in exclusive venues in the central parts of each city. 

Each workshop included a presentation of the destination and a B2B session, with the aim to provide the attending Sri Lankan tourism partners with a platform to establish new contacts within the Nordic travel trade. A total of 156 travel agents and 13 media representatives attended the shows in all cities. 

The first road show was held in Copenhagen providing Sri Lanka Tourism Partners to make valuable business partnerships with Danish and Swedish Tour Operators. 54 travel agents and two media representatives participated in this event. 

The ceremony was held under the patronage of Peter Grondahl – Honorary Consul for Sri Lanka in Denmark, and other distinguished Sri Lankan representatives. 

The second road show at Stockholm followed with 37 travel agents and eight media representatives. It was held at the Scandic Continental, under the patronage of Damayanthi Rajapakse, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Sweden and the Sri Lankan representatives who took part.

The workshop held at Oslo, Norway, had 21 Travel Agents, three media representatives participating, which had a positive response. The opening ceremony was under Jayantha Palipane, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Norway. Most participants believed that Sri Lanka is a popular destination among Norwegian travellers.  The fourth road show in Finland consisted of 20 buyers, two media representatives and one PATA representative. The event was held under the patronage of Amos Gyllenbogel, Honorary consul General for Sri Lanka in Finland. The road shows contributed to promote Sri Lanka as an upcoming destination in the Nordic market, and attract more tourists from the Nordic countries to visit Sri Lanka and experience its warm hospitality and cultural importance. At each event, the traditional lighting of the oil lamp was an unmistakable item, which attracted the visitors with its colourful splendour.