The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Iran with the support of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) promoted Sri Lanka as a prime tourist destination at the 13th International Tourism and Related Industries Exhibition held at the Fars Permanent International Fairground in Shiraz, the capital of Fars Province of Iran from 03-06 January 2024. The Exhibition is an integrated travel fair involving inbound and outbound travel, B2B and B2C meetings, tourism presentations, important discussions and special sale offices for travel products. This was the first ever tourism promotion event in which the Embassy participated outside Tehran.
The Sri Lanka pavilion at the event attracted a large number of visitors and served to promote Sri Lanka as a popular travel destination. It created awareness on the recent developments of Sri Lanka tourism among the Iran public specially in the Fars province and international tourism industry participants. A number of key dignitaries including the Iran Deputy Minister of Tourism Ali Asghar Shalbafian Hossein Abadi visited the Sri Lanka booth and showed a lot of interest in destination Sri Lanka.
On the sidelines of the Shiraz Tourism Exhibition, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Iran G.M.V. Wishwanath Aponsu met with the Deputy Governor for tourism of the Fars Province of Iran Mohammad Farrokhzadeh. During the meeting, the Ambassador observed that the 13th Fars Tourism Exhibition-2024 is an important platform to expand trade, create new business links in tourism industry, broaden cultural understandings, enhance people-to-people contacts and deepen the friendship that binds Iran and Sri Lanka.
While highlighting the Forbes ranking “Sri Lanka as the fourth most popular solo travel destination in 2024”, Ambassador Aponsu stated that Sri Lanka is a unique and naturally diversified tourist destination of the World which provide multiple experiences. At the request of the Sri Lankan envoy, the Deputy Governor agreed to arrange a trade familiarization (FAM) tour in the Fars province in 2024 for the Sri Lankan travel agencies and he appreciated the participation of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Iran at the Exhibition.
In 2023, Iran tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka have remarkably increased by 140% compared to 2022. With the planned tourism promotional initiatives and events by the Embassy, a significant increase in Iran tourists to Sri Lanka for the year 2024 specially during the Nowruz season-March (Persian New Year) is expected.
The Embassy of Sri Lanka also utilized the 13th International Tourism Exhibition to promote Ceylon Tea and several other Sri Lankan agricultural export products including herbs and spices.
Embassy of Sri Lanka
Tehran
12 January 2024
