As another result of its continuous effort of promoting Sri Lanka as a potential tourism destination, Sri Lanka Tourism participated in SATTE Travel Fair which was held in Greater Noida, Delhi-NCR, India, from May 18 to 22, 2022, with the participation of 65 Sri Lankan travel and tourism companies.
SATTE offers a comprehensive platform to domestic and international buyers and professionals from across the travel, tourism and hospitality industry along with national and State tourism boards. SATTE is recognised as Asia’s leading travel and tourism exhibition to conduct business, share knowledge, exchange ideas in order to arrive at solution-driven innovations to accelerate the pace of the growth of the industry.
SATTE has grown in terms of exhibitions and visitors (including international and domestic buyers) and is today the biggest net working forum for the travel and tourism industry in South Asia.
SATTE is an exceptional trade event which is well-supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, national and international tourism boards, Indian and international travel and trade associations and organisations amongst others. 1,200+ exhibitors, 35,000+ trade visitors, 800+ VIPs and delegates and 26 State tourism boards from 50+ countries attended SATTE 2022.
The Sri Lanka stand had a floor area of 256.5 sqm, and was a vibrant attraction, with the décor used to decorate the stand highlighted all tourism attractions of Sri Lanka which warmly welcomed the visitors, and gave them a flavour of perfectly blended culture and heritage of Sri Lanka.
H. G. U. Pushpakumara, Minister and High Commission of Sri Lanka opened the Sri Lanka stand amidst the presence of officials from the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, officials of the High Commission of Sri Lanka, and Country Manager of SriLankan Airlines on May 18, the first day of the event by lighting the traditional oil lamp with the industry members. India has been identified as one of the fastest growing outbound markets in the world. The UNWTO has ranked India as one of the fastest growing outbound markets in the world with the volume of travellers going up by 25 percent every year.
Sri Lanka Tourism has identified India as an important source market for Sri Lanka and to provide greater opportunities to the Sri Lankan travel industry to engage with the members of SATTE.
Sri Lanka plays a crucial role here as the destination is most talked about ‘tropical South East Asian’ travel destination. 98 percent of trips to Sri Lanka were for leisure purposes, mostly visited for wildlife and beaches.
There is strong flight connectivity to the main cities of India with SriLankan Airlines, Indigo, Air India, Vistara, and so on. Although the majority of travel bookings are made on offline (agents and OTA platforms) travellers are increasingly preferring to book online, especially with regard to lodging.
Leading hotel chains such as Shangri-La, Movenpick, Radisson opened in Colombo, while Grand Hyatt and ITC hotels are scheduled to be launched. This is an indication of wide interest from luxury hotel chains. New tourism zones, spanning from beaches to mountains and forests create new avenues for the tourism sector in areas such as luxury travel, eco-tourism, health and wellness and so on.
MICE, incentive, casino, wedding and honeymoon, leisure, youth, golf tours, Ramayanaya, Buddhist pilgrim tours and so on are the main products Sri Lanka can offer for Indians all year round.
All the co-exhibitors at the Sri Lanka stand who represent the Sri Lanka tourism industry succeeded in strengthening existing businesses and establishing new business contacts throughout the fair.
They were satisfied with the quality of business contacts they made during the event. The public and trade visitors also displayed a particularly keen interest in Sri Lanka as a tourist destination whereas their response was extremely positive.
The positive progress achieved by Sri Lanka at SATTE India 2022 confirmed its position as an important marketing instrument in the region for the local tourism industry.
Further confirming its importance as one of the key source markets for Sri Lanka, over sixty-one-thousand tourist arrivals from India was recorded up to May 2022.