“Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai” - Joint Mega Promotion Enters Shanghai to Attract Chinese Visitors to Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Tourism is all set to execute the second Joint Mega Promotion campaign in China called “Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai ”, which will be launched in the Shanghai City from the 01st to 06th July 2014 followed by the major success of its first event held in Beijing last year. This Joint Mega Promotion campaign with joint efforts from Public and Private sectors has been initiated under the advice of H.E the President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The joint mega promotional campaign, an event organized in combination of the Public and Private sectors of the Sri Lanka is coming to China for the second time following the success of the first phase of this campaign held in Beijing last year.

The event is organized under the guidance of Hon. Basil Rajapaksa, the Minister of Economic Development who will grace the event in Shanghai with his presence at “Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai” joint mega promotional campaign.

Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism Mr. Bhashwara Gunarathna, and Managing Director of Sri Lanka Tourism Mr. Rummy Jauffer along with Sri Lankan Travel agents, Tour Operators, Hoteliers and Government Organisations will represent tourism industry of Sri Lanka at this mega promotional campaign in Shanghai. “Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai” joint mega promotional campaign held under the guidance of Ministry of Economic Development is heavily backed by Sri Lankan Embassy in Beijing and Sri Lankan Consulate General in Shanghai.

“Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai” will kick off on the 01st July 2014 at Pudong Shangri La Hotel in Shanghai with a Press Conference. Over 120 leading Chinese Media representing electronic and print will participate for this fully fledged media conference. Sri Lanka Tourism will present the “Sri Lanka Shines in Beijing” event and its objectives to the Chinese media at this event.

The second major event under this promotional campaign would be a ”B2B Travel & Tourism Forum” which will be held on the 04th July at Pudong Shangri La Hotel targeting the travel and trade participants. Over 200 Chinese travel agents and representatives of trade institutions are expected to meet with more than 40 Sri Lankan leisure and trade sector operators who will arrive in Beijing for the upcoming event. The event will also see Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau in collaboration with Sri Lanka Inbound Tour operators Association of Sri Lanka, introducing a special holiday package for Chinese travelers, who would like to arrive in Sri Lanka.

The B2B Travel Forum will be followed by a glamorous ‘Sri Lankan Night’ which will feature a series of activities highlighting the Island’s culture and traditions, at Pudong Shangri La Hotel on 04th July from 6.00 p.m. onwards. “Sri Lankan night” is a colourful event, which will feature cultural shows reflecting the unique Sri Lankan identity. Over 500 high profile Chinese guest including diplomats, Chinese government officers, Travel Trade Businessman, media, Celebrities and travel agents are invited for this colourful night. This event includes mouth-watering Sri Lankan Cuisine by leading Chefs of Sri Lanka. The vibrant cultural dances of the night will be performed by the students of Kirindiwela central college of Sri Lanka and Choreographed by Master Lionel Guanarathna.

“Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai” will gather further momentum, with a shopping mall promotional campaign to be held at “Nanjing Lu Century Square” of Shanghai, running up to three days, starting from the 04th July to 06th July.

The Shopping Mall activation at “Nanjing Lu Century Square” shopping mall will see Sri Lankan dancers, drummers taking the stage to entertain the Chinese public, while a large number of Sri Lankan firms will display their products and services such as tea, spa, ceramic-ware, Gem and Jewellery, garments , handicrafts etc. during the campaign. Among the exhibitors would be the Island’s leading Gem traders who display the worlds best blue Sapphire’s among many other gem stones at this event. The Island’s hoteliers and tour operators too would make their presence at the activation campaign, while Chinese public will also get the opportunity to taste the Sri Lankan cuisines, from the Sri Lankan food stalls that will be established at the shopping mall. During the shopping mall campaign, Sri Lanka Tourism along with the Tourism Partners will offer free holiday packages, for the lucky Chinese men and women who can grab the opportunity by entering into the competitions held during the Shopping mall activations.

In line with the events under “Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai”, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau will execute an major advertising campaign to promote Sri Lanka through outdoor advertising such as Led Hoardings, Light box advertising and newspaper advertisements, Radio jingles, Web marketing and also a PR campaign to aware and gain the attention of the Chinese travel and trade companies over Sri Lanka. The campaign will be exclusive to Shanghai city and aims to reach the target audience in Shanghai through the outdoor promotional campaign which will roll out during and prior to the event.

“Sri Lanka Shines in Shanghai” promotional campaign held under the guidance of Minister of Economic Development Hon. Basil Rajapaksa is a major promotional tool Sri Lanka is using towards attracting 2.5 million tourists per annum by 2016, out of the expected 2.5 million tourists to the country; Sri Lanka is planning to attract 275,000 Chinese travellers into the country.

Sri Lanka tourism, which has identified the growing tendency of Chinese to travel overseas, has conducted a series of promotional campaigns during the year 2013, targeting those potential visitors. The key among them is the first joint mega promotional campaign which took place in Beijing called “Sri Lanka Shines in Beijing” and participation in major travel fairs held in China, such as the BITE, CITM , CIT and GITF and tourism road shows in Beijing , Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xian, Kunming and Chengdu. Under the promotional strategy, SLTPB also invited and hosted journalists and Tour operators from China to Sri Lanka.

Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka is on a steady rise, as the country has received 43,885 Chinese tourists during the first five months of this year, which is a year on year increase of 139.6%. The latest jump shows encouraging signs as the Government of Sri Lanka is campaigning vigorously to capture a slice out of the growing Chinese outbound tourism market, which during the year 2013 in total stood at 102 million tourists.