Gateway to South Asia 2017 Travel Mart – Sri Lanka’s first international travel trade fair

The first international travel fair to be organised and hosted by Sri Lanka will be taking place from the 4th to 7th May 2017, in Colombo. Titled ‘Gateway to South Asia 2017’, the event was first launched at the ITB Berlin, by Hon. John Amaratunga, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Tourism Development, Lands and Christian Religious Affairs. The fair was organised to draw in tour operators from previously untapped markets, who might be interested in selling Sri Lanka as a destination in the future. Several local travel operators, which include bespoke travel agencies like Connaissance de Ceylan, for example, will be taking part and promoting travel in Sri Lanka during the travel trade fair. The concept behind the inaugural travel fair is to further increase tourism numbers to meet the Sri Lankan government’s goal of 4 million arrivals within the next 3 years.