The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Brussels together with Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) organized workshops in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent in the Flemish speaking Flanders region to promote Sri Lanka as a tourism destination for travelers from Belgium. The objective of these events was to create awareness about the unique tourism attractions in Sri Lanka including traditional and niche products that make Sri Lanka the best travel destination for travelers from the East and West.
The Embassy had engaged a public relations company to select the most suitable, reputed and prospective members from the travel industry which included tour operators and agents, travel journalists, travel media and TV professionals, travel bloggers, social media influencers and decision makers in the Belgium tourism industry from the respective cities to attend the workshops.
Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Belgium Grace Asirwatham led the workshops emphatically explaining “why Sri Lanka” with distinctive and interesting details. The Ambassador’s stimulating presentation of Sri Lanka as a natural tourism destination with exclusive and diverse attractions was complimented by an audiovisual titled “SO Sri Lanka”.The Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in Antwerp Monique de Decker also effectively contributed to the workshops as one of the panelists endorsing Sri Lanka as a small wonder on earth and a must visit destination for travelers from Belgium. Several Belgium travel operators with business experience in Sri Lanka joined the workshops as panelists and shared their experiences with their colleagues in the travel industry. The President of Association of Belgium Tour Operators (ABTO) Luc Coussement while vouching for the authenticity, compactness and diversity of Sri Lanka tourism urged the tour operators to add Sri Lanka to their priority list of tourism destinations.
Holiday package tours in Sri Lanka were given as raffle draw prizes and Sri Lankan lunch was served at all three workshops.
Outcome of these workshops will serve to attract new waves of interest among the Belgium travel industry during Sri Lanka’s participation at the International Holiday Fair of Brussels Expo in Belgium on 6-9 February 2020.
While the second round of tourism promotional events will be undertaken in 2020, the Embassy will also venture into the French speaking Walloon region in Belgium for similar promotional endeavours.
Travelers from Belgium are high spenders who stay for an average of ten to fourteen days in Sri Lanka. According to statistics 5371 Belgian tourists visited Sri lanka in 2010 and 17,519 in 2018 registering a steady increase in arrivals.
