Sri Lanka debuts at China-ASEAN Expo Tourism Exhibition

The Consulate of Sri Lanka in Guangzhou has for the first time participated in the China-ASEAN Expo Tourism Exhibition, which was held from 15-17 October 2021 in Guilin, Guangxi Province, China, with a culture and tourism booth manned by the consulate staff. 

The booth was decorated with pictures of tourist and cultural attractions embossed on its walls, with some handicrafts and a television playing videos of diverse tourist and cultural sites of Sri Lanka which enticed the public, tour operators and travel agencies to visit the booth. There were also many travel and quarantine procedure inquiries made regarding Sri Lanka from those thinking of visiting the country in the future.

It was the first time that the consulate participated in a fair in Guangxi Province, outside Guangzhou and Guangdong Province in Southern China, and such participation gave an opportunity to showcase Sri Lanka, far away from Guangzhou.

While in Guilin, the Consul General of Sri Lanka to Guangzhou Priyangika Dharmasena attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition and also met with Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Zhuang Xu, Vice Governor of Guangxi Li Bin, Mayor of Guilin Li Chu and other high-level government as well as tourism and culture related officials.

The fair is a prestigious exhibition co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and Guangxi Province, under the global infrastructure development strategy of the ‘Belt & Road Initiative,’ that aims to strengthen cooperation, collaboration in tourism and trade as well to develop rapport among China and ASEAN Countries and major countries along the Belt and Road. 

More than 40 countries along the Maritime Silk Road, as well as Europe, United States, Japan, South Korea and Chinese travel agencies participated in this year’s exposition.