German travel agents visit SL for familiarisation tour

By Divya Thotawatte

With the objective of promoting Sri Lanka as a high-end tourist destination, a group of German travel agents arrived in the country recently on a familiarisation tour which also included an enterprise-focused networking event with local hospitality partners.

The tour was organised by the House of Travels and Tourism (H.O.T.) in collaboration with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) German sector. The 23 leading German travel agents arrived in Sri Lanka on 15 November on a six-day visit during which they travelled to local tourist hotspots like Kandy, Ella, Haputale, Yala and Bentota. The networking event was held at the 7 Degree Restaurant in Colombo on the evening of their final day in the country, before their departure.

Tourism Minister Harin Fernando who attended the event thanked the German agents for their visit and said, “there is much that Sri Lanka has to offer and we want the world to know that. We are working on developing our tourist attractions. We have now imported 20 hot air balloons to the country. We will be starting a sky-diving school, with programs for diving, deep sea fishing, etc. in 2024 because we have over 143 shipwrecks from the Second World War in our waters. There will be many new activities to experience in Sri Lanka beginning next year.”

H.O.T. General Manager Harsha Wickramanayake said the tour highlighted the potential of Sri Lanka as a high-end tourist destination and encouraged the travel agents to promote the country throughout Germany. “These agents will not only promote Sri Lanka in the main cities of Germany such as Berlin and Frankfurt, but they will also take the message of Sri Lanka and promote the country outside those cities,” he added. The German travel agents, promising to encourage high-end tourism to Sri Lanka from different cities in Germany, networked with the representatives from prominent local hospitality brands.

While the star-category hotels often attracted many tourists, a primary objective of the event was to provide more exposure to luxury villas and resorts in the country. There are many luxury villas in Sri Lanka that could attract and cater to high-end European tourists and familiarisation tours, and enterprise-focused events allowed local luxury brands to receive that exposure, a luxury villa representative present at the event explained.