Published on : Wednesday, July 3, 2019
The familiarization tour ‘China Panda Travels Sri Lanka’ is arranged by a local destination management company (DMC), Thambili Holidays, in partnership with a prominent Chinese travel arm, Global Tourism. A group of 103 Chinese travel agents and professionals from Chengdu, Shanghai, and Beijing, among other cities, are currently on an eight-day familiarization tour in different regions of Sri Lanka.
Demarcating the objectiveness of this familiarisation tour, Thambili Holidays General Manager Thimira Rajarathna explained that they want to promise the Chinese that Sri Lanka is a safe destination now for travelling whilst showcasing the same.
“We believe that recovery of the Chinese travellers’ confidence towards Sri Lanka will help to create a significant impact on our tourism industry as China remains the second largest source market. We want to reinforce the fact that the experience of travelling to Sri Lanka is just too good to forget,” he added.
China is the second largest source market of Sri Lanka and brought in 265,965 travellers in 2018. China has more than 150 million outbound tourists, with it increasing 14% year-on-year.
Also, Rajarathna extended its greatest support to Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) in all its endeavors to reconstruct the image of the country.
The eight-day familiarization tour, which took place yesterday at Hilton Colombo, will cover all key tourist attractions around the island.
SLTPB Chairman Kishu Gomes welcomed the move by the private sector and persisted that China was a critical market that they are aiming at to revive the industry following the Easter Sunday setback.
Also, he disclosed the fact that there had been a good amount of growth in tourist arrivals during the past two months. “From May to June, there was a 70% increase in tourist arrivals,” Gomes pointed out.
Tags: Sri Lanka Tourism