German travel agents given familiarization tour

Germany’s leading travel agents who arrived last week, after their familiarization tour in Sri Lanka collectively pledged the Tourism Minister Harin Fernando of their willingness to promote Sri Lanka in Germany and assured them to send large numbers of tourist groups to the Island nation throughout the next year. They revealed it at a post-tour evaluation forum held at 7Degrees Restaurant in Colombo yesterday conducted by House of Travels – HOT Tourism in association with the PATA German Chapter.

Speaking at the Forum Fernando said, “Developing Tourism is the only way forward to come out of all the problems in Sri Lanka and the government is on a positive drive towards this path”. He invited local and foreign entrepreneurs to invest in tourism so that the government would facilitate the fullest support for them. “Germany is a key market for Sri Lanka Tourism and with the arrival of the delegation of tour operators, we are certain of a considerable number of additional arrivals for sure.

HPP Touristik Gmbh Managing Director Peter Geraedts told Daily News Business that a delegation of over 25 leading businessmen in Germany is to visit Sri Lanka very soon on a feasibility study with an interest to particularly invest in the hospitality industry. He was impressed by the Yala National Park and pointed out that Germans travelling to Africa can be diverted to Sri Lanka for wildlife tourism.

Meanwhile, several travel agents in the group said they were amazed about Sri Lanka and said immediately when they get back to Germany they will immediately organize group tours to Sri Lanka. They were also highly impressed with the smiling faces and the cordial relations of the Sri Lankan people and commented about the wide range of delicious Sri Lankan food.

The forum was moderated by German Coordinator of HOT Tourism and Contracting Manager of FTI Group Germany Fredric Schepsky. The panel included Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Marketing Director Dushan Wickramasuriya, HOT Tourism MD Nalin Malwenna, and HOT Travels Director Business Development Paul Heimo.

Malwenna said they took the initiative of organizing the delegation of German tour operators to arrive here last week and to take them on a round trip to some strategic locations in the country to familiarize themselves with Sri Lanka’s culture, nature and beauty.

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