Sri Lanka: Much More for a Visitor to Enjoy

Sri Lanka, the Paradise Island, Pearl of the Indian Ocean, is a world-famous tourist destination much loved by visitors for its year-round sunshine, golden beaches and friendly welcome. For decades tourists from Britain and elsewhere have travelled to Sri Lanka to relax in beachfront hotels, swim, surf and enjoy the casual, easy going lifestyle of the seaside towns.

The benefits of tourism are well documented, contributing foreign exchange earnings and employment as well as creating friendships and appreciation of different cultures. However, the global pandemic led to a near collapse of international leisure travel worldwide and the tourism and hospitality industries were severely affected.

As travel restrictions between UK and Sri Lanka eased in late 2021, the Council for Business with Britain (CBB) began to plan an event to support the country’s beleaguered tourism industry by promoting Sri Lanka tourism, particularly to the UK market. The event will be held online by Zoom and will be on Wednesday 02 February 2022, starting at 3.00pm, which is 09.30 in the UK.

The CBB decided that instead of promoting beach holidays, something for which Sri Lanka is already well known, the event will promote other spheres of tourism. The CBB hopes that by raising awareness of some of Sri Lanka’s many other attractions and treasures, visitors will be enticed to spend some time enjoying other sights and activities, and thus supporting the hospitality businesses and communities in other parts of the island.

The event will be in two halves, starting with a discussion between a panel of tourism experts, namely Ms. Kimarli Fernando, Chairperson of Sri Lanka Tourism; Mr. George Kipouros, Editor in Chief, Wanderlust Magazine from the UK; Ms. Janet Newenham, a Travel Writer and Influencer from Ireland; and Mr. Sanath Ukwatte, Immediate Past President of The Hotel Association of Sri Lanka. The discussion will be moderated by Mr. Dougie Douglas, a Committee Member of the Council for Business with Britain and is expected to last approximately 45 minutes.

At the conclusion of the discussion there will be a series of online presentations on six different tourism opportunities presented by experts in those fields.  Attendees can choose which presentation to attend and all presentations will be repeated so that a second presentation can be attended. The subjects and presenters will be Wellness Tourism presented by Mr. Asoka Hettigoda; Culinary Tourism presented by Mr. Dharshan Munidasa; Boutique Hotels and Tea presented by Mr. Simon Bell; History Tourism presented by Mr. Asiri Samaraweera; Wildlife presented by Mr. Roha Wijesinha; and Trekking presented by Mr. Ruwan Jayasekere. Each presentation is scheduled to last for 15 minutes.

By way of its membership of the British Chambers of Commerce International, the CBB will promote the event to 53 British regional Chambers of Commerce as well as to travel and tourism companies in the UK. It is hoped that many travel companies in Sri Lanka will also participate, as they sell domestic tourism to residents and visitors who have already arrived.

The event is free to attend. Anyone wanting to attend can register at https://bit.ly/3nQHyM4

For further details on the webinar please contact us by email to Dinithi@chamber.lk or by calling +94 77 139 1341.