Sri Lanka Tourism launched its new destination brand identity ‘So Sri Lanka,’ on November 5, 2018 at a gala event at Grosvenor House London Ballroom, coinciding with World Travel Market (WTM) 2018.
Minister of Tourism and Wildlife Vasantha Senanayake; Member of the House of Lords, Lord Naseby; MP for North-East Hampshire and the UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Sri Lanka Ranil Jayawardena; Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Manisha Gunasekera; Mayor of Harrow Kareema Marikar; Director, Marketing, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Madubhani Perera; industry leaders from Sri Lanka and invitees from the British travel trade and the media were present.
The WTM, held at the Excel Exhibition Centre, London, was attended by over 60 industry partners from Sri Lanka, among others.
High Commissioner Manisha Gunasekera welcomed the guests in attendance remarking that the launch of the ‘So Sri Lanka’ brand is testament to the importance of the UK tourism market to Sri Lanka, which has demonstrated steady and significant year-on-year growth.
A press conference was held on November 6 to address over 80 travel media personnel on the multi-faceted attractions of Sri Lanka.
The WTM is a leading global event of the travel and tourism industry, attracting more than 35,000 visitors, 5,000 exhibitors 2,000 travel agents and tour operators and the leading global travel media annually.
Meanwhile, in two separate events held on the sidelines of the WTM on November 6, Lonely Planet recognised the best in travel 2019 destinations where Sri Lanka received recognition as its No 1 destination for travel in 2019; and the Cinnamon Elephant Project by Cinnamon Hotels Management Sri Lanka won the silver award under the ‘Best in Responsible Tourism’ category at the International Travel and Tourism Awards 2018.
Sri Lanka’s new brand identity was created by J. Walter Thompson Sri Lanka and also saw the culmination of many ideas from several key industry stakeholders who infused their thinking and recommendations to creating it. The branding campaign aims to engage primarily millennial travellers who will comprise 50 percent of global travel revenue by 2020.
In recent years, Sri Lanka has made vast strides in the tourism industry and caters to a wide range of interests and tastes of those visiting the country. The United Kingdom continues to be the largest exporter of tourists from Europe and Sri Lanka’s third largest tourism market. In the ten months up to October 2018, the total tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom to Sri Lanka saw a 23% increase in comparison to the previous year.