Sri Lanka takes part in Indian International Travel Mart | Sunday Observer

Sri Lanka takes part in Indian International Travel Mart

30 July, 2017
 Minister John Ameratunge receives the award for ‘MICE Destination of the Year’ at IITM.
Minister John Ameratunge receives the award for ‘MICE Destination of the Year’ at IITM.

Sri Lanka took part in the Indian International Travel Mart in Bangalore last week. While the Sri Lanka pavilion was singled out as the shining star at the event by the event organisers, the country also bagged two awards - ‘MICE Destination of the Year’ and ‘Best Decorated International Pavilion’ at the event.

The Sri Lanka delegation was led by Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs, John Amaratunga who was honoured to have been invited as chief guest at the inauguration as well as the awards ceremony.

The Indian International Travel Mart is a platform for the sub-continent region to showcase both existing as well as new products to the International Travel community and is a highly anticipated event among the Indian travel trade. The event is of significance for Sri Lanka as India is now the number one tourism source market for the country. This year’s Indian International Travel Mart was the 99th edition of the event. Sri Lanka Tourism was noted for its active participation with an attractively designed ‘Sri Lanka Pavilion’ that effectively communicated the diversity on offer in the country.

Meanwhile, Minister Amaratunga held several important meetings with the Indian tourism trade on the sidelines of the travel mart.

During a meeting with the South India Global Tour Operators Association (SIGTOA), the Minister extended an invitation to the President of the Association, K.V. Kishore to hold their Annual Conference in Sri Lanka. Having accepted the invitation SIGTOA is now planning to hold the conference in Colombo in the second week of September this year.

Minister Amaratunga also met the Chairman, Travel Agents Association of India (Karnataka Chapter), M.S. Raghavan and GM, Thomas Cook India Ltd, Tanveer Ahmed, where the main topic of discussion was positioning Sri Lanka as the destination of first choice for Indian tourists. 

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